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It isn't just me that thinks pandas are stupid and should be left on an ice floe.


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Don't stop panda extinction, says Chris Packham

  • 00:00, 22 SEPTEMBER 2009
  • BY MIRROR.CO.UK

TV wildlife expert Chris Packham has controversially called for giant pandas to be allowed to die out – with tigers next.

 
Chris Packham (pic: BBC)

TV wildlife expert Chris Packham has controversially called for giant pandas to be allowed to die out – with tigers next.

Chris, host of BBC2’s Springwatch, believes the millions spent preserving pandas could be put to better use elsewhere.

He argued: “Here’s a species that of its own accord has gone down an evolutionary cul-de-sac. It’s not a strong species.

“Unfortunately  it’s big and cute and it’s a symbol of the World Wildlife Fund – and we pour millions of pounds into panda conservation. I reckon we should pull the plug. Let them go with a degree of dignity.”

Panda (pic: Getty)

The cash should instead go on saving biodiversity hotspots, he argued.

Chris, 48, claimed breeding threatened species in captivity then releasing them into the wild was “nonsense” – and said tigers would die out within two decades.

He told the Radio Times: “Animals are invariably becoming extinct because there’s no secure habitat for them.

“Where are you going to release them? I don’t think tigers are going to last another 15 years. How can you conserve an animal that’s worth more dead than alive? You can’t.”

Giant pandas are found only in China. There are around 1,600 in the wild with around 180 more being reared in captivity.

They are dying out because their natural habitat is being destroyed.

Fellow wildlife expert David Bellamy last night backed Chris and said: “I agree completely.  When I was a WWF trustee I begged them to buy big chunks of the land in which these animals live, not just go on spending millions on rearing pandas in captivity.

“You can’t release them back into the wild if there is no wild left and we shouldn’t rear animals just to put them into cages.

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