Edinburgh Zoo Giant pandas coming to Edinburgh zoo?

The situation in Wolong sounds dreadful: loss of habitat, wild pandas found dead, total destruction of the breeding centre. :(
 
That is horrible for the pandas but,
the birth of twins though is good news in sichuan zoo,
 
From the reports I've read it sounds as though the research centre and panda hospital were destroyed. According to the Chinese press 14 of the 31 panda enclosures were destroyed leaving 61 pandas "homeless". Some have been evacuated, not clear what has happened to the others.

Meanwhile there's a plan forming to rebuild the centre in a new location:

AFP: China eyes panda relocation plan: official media
 
I hope the remainders are kept in a tundra habitat with lots of space and grass.
 
Rachnos said:
I hope the remainders are kept in a tundra habitat with lots of space and grass.
Click to expand...

That would be great, if they were Polar bears lol :)
 
My favourite Giant Panda exhibit (from photos) is either San Diego Zoo or the National Zoo in Washington...

I'm assuming the ones in Berlin and Hong Kong are quite good..? What about Atlanta..?
 
Berlin's is just a simple cage in the rather out-dated (but wonderful) carnivore house. The panda seems to get very little special attention. The Madagascan mongooses next door are possibly more interesting, in many ways. It's reminiscent of how London used to present their pandas - nothing special, just a cage which would contain something else if the panda wasn't there.
 
The Giant Panda exhibit in Thailand (can't remember if Bangkok or somewhere else,) has an air conditioned house with Pandas in a center of Bambbo planted in the ground, from photos I think it looks great, though the rest is kind of hard to explain,
 
Yeah, I don't like the way the panda is presented in Berlin. It's a really small, exposed area, poor old guy can't get any privacy.
You'd think an animal that costs so much for the zoo to keep would be advertised more and get a much higher profile exhibit.
 
I think "Knut" the polar bear has taken care of that in the past year, i believe the sum of $11 million dollars has been raised by this cub.
 
Wow... Lets hope they use that to improve a lot of the animal enclosures :)
 
Ive just returned from a trip to the berlins zoos and i agree the panda enclosure isn't the best however bao bao seems pretty content. Knut on the other hand who helped raise all that money looks rather depressed. The giant pandas in Thailand are in Chaing mai zoo. The inside enclosure is interesting and pretty large but twice when i was there the male climbed into the dry moat infront and tried to climb into the public veiwer! very amusing, i'll try and upload the video clip when i get a chance!
 
Yeah, panda's enclosure is probably one of the best for the bears.
Any news on Knut getting moved to another zoo yet?
 
I read that the zoo that Knut's father came from is happy for Knut to stay at Berlin but they want a chunk of the money he has made...
 
The EEP-Coordinator recommended sending Knut to Bärenpark Orsa/Sweden. But the decision of the Berlin-director is unknow yet.
 
What's that place like?
They can't seriously be thinking of keeping him in one of those bear enclosures forever?
They're too small for sun bears, let alone polars!
Sorry, rant over lol...
 
My, they have been busy. Officially, the formal agreement must be signed by Gordon Brown while he is in China for the closing ceremony of the Olympics. I think that will be the next step in the process.

As much as it is breathtaking to visit the edinburgh zoo website and see the amazing species dotted across their pages, and as exciting as it will be to see giant pandas in the UK again, western zoos really aren't needed to house, breed, or fundraise for this species. China is big and ugly enough to conserve it's own wildlife. I don't believe this is a conservation decision on the part of Edinburgh zoo. Sure, they will raise a huge amount for the general work of the zoo, but I guess that's where the argument starts as to whether it's acceptable to use animals in that way.

As for Mercedes, she's not exactly ancient yet, I'm sure she'd survive crate training and/or sedation to be moved to a better enclosure, either at HWP or Edinburgh. I think the main issue the activists have with the zoo is the reversal of the pledge not to replace her when she dies. I personally am torn, the zoological society of scotland is building a more dynamic and interesting collection of species than I have ever seen in my lifetime in the UK, but I think their priority should have been a better polar bear exhibit sooner.
 
This is exactly what I mean with "zoos inviting animal activists to make trouble" in the thread about the San Francisco Zoo... they should make it a top priority to improve condition for the animals they already have before spending incredible amounts of money on new species like the giant panda which breed fantastic in China, without a chance to build up a european breeding program because all animals will have to go back to China in due time.... and I guess it`s not just the polar bear who needs an improved enclosure in Edinburgh (havn`t been there yet).
 
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