Red pandas are at risk of extinction.
The IUCN presently lists red pandas as an endangered species, and there are thought to be less than 10,000 of them left in the wild. The precise number is yet unknown. Red pandas in the wild face serious risks from habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation. One of the hazards to this species is poaching, since red pandas are murdered for their unique red fur as well as for use in food, medicine, and the pet trade. In addition to being at risk from poaching, the remaining red panda populations are also at risk from illness, natural catastrophes, and the impacts of climate change. The red panda, for instance, will need to relocate to higher elevations when the temperature rises.
In the wild, mother red pandas only give birth to an average of two babies each year. What's worse, parasites are a problem in the wild environments of pandas, where death rates are high. The incidence of parasites was found to be 90.80 percent in the group investigated, indicating that red pandas from Nepal are extremely vulnerable to endoparasites that can be fatal.
Similar difficulties have been observed in red pandas kept in captivity. Red panda deaths among babies under 30 days of age accounted for 40.2% of all panda deaths overall between 1992 and 2012, according to records from facilities housing red pandas in Europe, with pneumonia being the most frequent cause of death.
