Red panda from Buttonwood headed to New Jersey zoo

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WLNE) — Buttonwood Park Zoo said that its 2-year-old Red Panda Sprout will be headed to a zoo in New Jersey.

Sprout will move to Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan to start a family with Jerry, a male Red Panda at the zoo.

Sprout was born in 2023 to Jacob and Marie, alongside her sister Pip.

The zoo said Red Pandas are currently endangered, and researchers estimate that the total population has declined by 40% over the past two decades.