Maxima customers help build first Red Panda House at Riga Zoo

With the support of Maxima and its customers, a Red Panda House will be built for the first time at Riga Zoo. Yesterday, July 16th, Maxima and Riga Zoo management formally marked the beginning of the Red Panda House installation process.

Red pandas are endangered species, and there are no more than around 10,000 left in the wild. Red pandas come from China and the Himalayas, and their natural habitat is among trees and bushes, in whose branches they also like to sleep. Like giant pandas, red pandas eat bamboo shoots and leaves.

“Family is Maxima’s core value, so we are pleased to support and promote activities which encourage spending time together, helping one another and maintaining family values. Riga Zoo, with its wide range of animals, is one of the places where both kids and their parents can gain new and educational experiences. That’s why, to provide new experiences for visitors and ensure that Zoo residents have a comfortable, safe home, the red pandas will be built their own specially adapted house with the help of Maxima customers,” explains Maxima Latvija Board Member Jānis Vanags.

“Every animal—those living in the wild, in zoos or in our homes—has its own habitat which it needs to feel comfortable. We are hugely grateful that our Red Pandas will get their own house with the support of Maxima Latvija customers. We are also pleased that it will be adapted from an existing building, rather than being built from scratch,” adds Director of the Riga National Zoo Ingmārs Līdaka.

The red pandas’ new home will be built in the old brown bear territory, which had become too small, and any member of the public can be involved in its creation. From July 9th to September 16th, as part of our special The Secret Life of Pets 2 promotion, anyone can buy a special cardboard toy house for €1.99 from Maxima stores. A portion of the money raised through the sale of the houses will be donated towards building the new Red Panda House at Riga Zoo.

As part of the Maxima loyality campaign, families can also purchase a toy of their child’s favourite animal of cartoon Secret Life of Pets 2 in stores and increase their child’s understanding of and responsibility towards animals in the home and in nature through play and games.

It is anticipated that construction of the panda house will begin at the end of 2019, and the red pandas will move into their new home in Riga Zoo in spring 2020.