Kirk Cousins Helping Name Red Panda Cubs At Grand Rapids Zoo

The former MSU quarterback is teaming up with the John Ball Zoo to get the community's help in voting on names for three new red panda cubs.

According to a press release from John Ball Zoo, Cousins kicked things off in a video message to share his name choice, "Sparty" which you can vote on, among other names, through online voting.

So there are three female red panda cubs, each one with three names to be voted on that were selected by the Zoo's staff, those who worked hard to bring the red panda habitat to the West Michigan zoo and, of course, Kirk Cousins

The name options are: 

• Baby Panda #1 - Zoë, Rose, or Masala
• Baby Panda #2 - Sage, Pixie, or Ruby
• Baby Panda #3 - Ginger, Willow, or Sparty

Voting takes place July 27th through August 30th at www.jbzoo.org/redpandacubsnamingcontest. Each vote only costs a one-dollar donation to the zoo; however, you have unlimited $1 votes and the name with the most donations for each cub wins!

Your vote is not just a money-grab by any means, though, as all proceeds from the contest goes to care and conservation of red pandas at the John Ball Zoo through the Red Panda Network as red pandas are threatened from extinction in the wild.

According to John Ball Zoo, there are less than 2,500 red pandas are left in the wild so they say it is not only exciting, but crucial for the zoo and red pandas around the world to have the three cubs as well as their parents, Wyatt and Wasabi.

I remember when Wyatt and Wasabi were brought to the zoo back when I lived in Grand Rapids and all the excitement that followed. We had friends who lived kitty-corner to the zoo so we went and it was so fun to see the new habitat. Now, it is even more fun to know there will be three more fluffy lil' babies roaming about.

The winning names will be announced by the zoo on September 4th so get online and get voting if you want Lansing represented through a little baby red panda named Sparty!