In 2009, BBC presenter Chris Packham infamously said that the panda, the cuddly teddy bear-like symbol of the world conservation movement, should be left to die. “Let them go together with a degree of dignity,” he said . We apologize, however this video has failed to load. Because the mid-1970s, zoos world wide have spent untold hundreds of thousands of dollars on applications to keep the panda on life assist via captive breeding. Directed all that panda cash in the direction of one thing else. Packham figured the planet could be higher off if we merely pulled the plug. Nevertheless it turns out you'll be able to agree with Packham without additionally dooming everyone’s favorite herbivorous bear. The panda is finally being saved, and it has nearly nothing to do with the wasteful, largely pointless Chinese propaganda enterprise taking place at your local zoo. Despite many years of captive breeding, only 9 captive bred pandas have ever been launched back into the wild. The primary, Xiang Xiang, was released in 2006 only to be swiftly killed in a fight with resident males. Xue Xue, a feminine, dropped dead 40 days after her 2014 launch. Of these, only 4 can but be known as successful. He Sheng, a male released in early 2016, solely lasted the summer season before he was mauled to demise by an unknown animal. Meanwhile, the majority of the world’s 300-plus captive pandas will die without a glimpse of their mountainous dwelling. And the jury remains to be out on a pair of pandas released into Liziping Nature Reserve late final month. “I suppose these packages have been going on lengthy sufficient that we must always see extra progress made,” Marc Bekoff, an ethologist at University of Colorado, Boulder, instructed National Geographic in 2013 . As will their kids. “It’s virtually like: Breed. It's interesting to notice that the World Wildlife Fund, a gaggle dedicated to the preservation of wildlife species that has used the panda in its brand for years, just isn't involved in panda captive breeding. In 2012, the federal government of then-prime minister Stephen Harper announced a 10-yr deal with the Chinese authorities that might carry two pandas to zoos in Calgary and Toronto. Pray that one thing works out. As with all of China’s panda deals, the settlement was cloaked pooh teddy bear online in the veil of science. Every single captive panda all over the world is owned by the People’s Republic of China, and nations don’t get one unless the Chinese Communist Party considers them a buddy. “Humans want to protect pandas not for scientific reasons, or because they are ecologically important, but as a result of they've cute faces and they're politically vital,” Professor Wang Dajun, a wild-panda skilled at Peking University, advised the Financial Times final month. But China has very political causes to keep up its worldwide community of black and white bears. And these bears aren’t low cost. Pandas hold the Guinness World Record for most costly zoo species, with the animals costing as much as 5 times greater than elephants, the second-most expensive species. Much of this value is due to the exorbitant mortgage fees charged by China. In Canada’s case, it took $3 billion in commerce offers , as well as a personal visit by Harper. This doesn’t imply that the hassle to avoid wasting the panda is stalled. Far from it, the truth is. Unlike their listless captive counterparts, who famously refuse to mate regardless of mood music, viagra or even panda pornography, wild pandas are incredible breeders. The Chinese authorities banned logging in panda habitat within the 1990s, and have since been demarcating large panda reserves, as well as wildlife corridors to hyperlink them collectively. In 2016 the species was officially taken off the endangered listing. No animal in historical past has sucked up extra conservation dollars than the enormous panda. It seems all they really wanted was to be left alone.