Developing simple and innovative ways to provide feed to captive animals, especially those kept for captive breeding programs is essential because food-based enrichment has a beneficial effect on animal welfare. The red panda is a threatened species and needs support in developing a successful captive breeding program. Indian captive population of red pandas exhibit stereotypic behaviour to some extent (Khan et al., 2022) which could interfere with species biology and hinder captive breeding success. Therefore to combat stress zoos must design effective enrichments. Food-based enrichments are ideal to maintain animal welfare. I studied the effect of feed dispersal on the behaviour of captive red pandas in India. This study analysed whether pacing and aggressive behaviour were reduced, and foraging behaviour increased, when food was spatially distributed around the enclosure (mimicking the panda’s natural habitat) compared to food served on a common platform. Results showed that dispersing the food (known as food-based enrichment) increased the level of behavioural diversity by 1.6 times and foraging by 3.6 times. Similarly, pacing decreased by 5.8 times and aggression by almost three times in the subjects. Individual analysis suggests that behavioural diversity in the male doubled when food was dispersed around the enclosure. This suggests that spatially distributing bamboo stimulates foraging behaviour and limits stereotypical behaviour, such as pacing, in captive red pandas. This study showed that planning simple and innovative food-based enrichments in captivity supports natural behaviours and reduces abnormal behaviours ultimately supporting species conservation.