now that it's clearly obvious, no need to email...
Edinburgh Zoo Pandamonium to hit Edinburgh! #2
- Thread starter Lesley4444
- Start date
now that it's clearly obvious, no need to email...
I understand that the annual rent/lease for the pair of giant pandas is £600,000 per annum, I understand that the zoo has spent £250,000 refurbishing the old gorilla house for them to live in, I understand that it will cost £70,000 per annum to feed the giant pandas on bamboo. This is a ten year lease, therefore if I divide the cost of refurbishing the gorilla house by ten, £25,000 per annum add the £600,000 rental fee plus £75,000 per annum and then divide this total by the average admission charges for all classes I roughly estimate that the zoo has to have 53,000 extra visitors per annum throughout the ten year year lease agreement just to break even on the deal. This is not an unrealistic figure, I am sure in the first year the figure will be many times more than this, however I understand that any baby pandas born at Edinburgh will remain the property of the Chinese, god forbid, what happens if one of the giant pandas dies while at Edinburgh?, will the annual rental then be halved or will they still have to pay the agreed initial amount in full?, even worse what happens if both giant pandas die while at Edinburgh, will that be the end of the payments or will they still have to pay £600, 000 per annum for animals they no longer have. All going well, the giant pandas, at the end of the ten year agreement will be fit and well, what , however, happens to them then, are they to be sent back to China or elsewhere or are they to be allowed to live out the est of their days at Edinburgh which by then will have been there home for a decade? If they are allowed to remain at Edinburgh will there be a final one off payment or will there be even more rent to pay, this is after all a lease agreement not a hire purchase agreement when at the end of the ten year term the animals would have been legally purchased by the zoo and therefore their property.
Have any of the Panda pairs on equivalent deals in the USA or in Europe come to the end of their 'contracts' and if so what was the outcome after that? If so it would be a comparable scenario.
I know cubs born at San Diego have been returned to China but don't know about the siuations with the adult pairs.
The pair at The National Zoo, Washington arrived in 2000 (hence there lease was up last year) but they have now been granted permission to have them for an extra four years by the Chinese
devilfish
Well-Known Member
Just out of curiosity, what percentage of the income from ticket sales did you allocate to making money back on the pandas? Are Edinburgh's other running costs included, or are they usually mostly covered by other sources of funding?
I worked out the figure by adding together the annual rental cost, the cost of bamboo feed and a tenth of the cost to refurbish the old gorilla house, this divided by thirteen, the average entrance charge made for all three classes, i.e. adult, child and concessionary, this adds up to approximately 53,000 extra visitors required per annum to break even on the deal, other costs have not been taken into consideration, i.e, keepers wages etc,
Don't forget that visitors spend money inside the zoo. The extra visitors will buy food and drink and souvenirs - even the regulars may be tempted by cuddly panda toys (plus mittens, bobble hats, colouring books and all the rest). That will generate significant income, so that they will not need quite as many extra visitors as you have calculated.
Alan
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Their Zooshop looks to be stuffed to the seams with toy Pandas already, even before the real ones have arrived! Maybe because there was a slight delay in them coming over?
As someone who is an utter panda fanatic and has worked with these two in China, my excitement is going through the roof - albeit I'm a middle aged woman! I have very mixed views, I'd prefer to see them in China but it's a long way to go!
They're arriving around 11.15 on Sunday, by the special DHL plane - you can actually track the plan on DHL's website. Any baby born to Sunshine and Sweetie will remain at the zoo for one year then be sent back to China - an unusual agreement as I thought in the States they were kept for two years.
Edinburgh actually had panda tat for sale in September, as a friend went there and brought me a panda toy! The zoo at the moment has massive banners outside advertising the pandas. Thanks to a friend who works at the zoo I'll be there watching the plane come in and there will be a media frenzy on the route from the airport to the zoo, something I'm not happy about but the pandas should be shielded from most of it.
I'd have a few comments from friends as to how the pandas are being funded. Corporate sponsorship wasn't forthcoming so the zoo has to pay - not the Scottish government as has been insinuated in press reports. Hence the zoo massive promoting their arrival. I've got tickets for 20th December, and I know during that 10 minute slot I will sob my heart out, everything I do in my is geared towards moving to live and work in China in 2 years time.
Whilst I don't agree with zoos per se, two are also going to Beauval in France which to my mind is the best zoo I have ever seen anywhere in the world, so I'll be off to France next year to see them!
They're arriving around 11.15 on Sunday, by the special DHL plane - you can actually track the plan on DHL's website. Any baby born to Sunshine and Sweetie will remain at the zoo for one year then be sent back to China - an unusual agreement as I thought in the States they were kept for two years.
Edinburgh actually had panda tat for sale in September, as a friend went there and brought me a panda toy! The zoo at the moment has massive banners outside advertising the pandas. Thanks to a friend who works at the zoo I'll be there watching the plane come in and there will be a media frenzy on the route from the airport to the zoo, something I'm not happy about but the pandas should be shielded from most of it.
I'd have a few comments from friends as to how the pandas are being funded. Corporate sponsorship wasn't forthcoming so the zoo has to pay - not the Scottish government as has been insinuated in press reports. Hence the zoo massive promoting their arrival. I've got tickets for 20th December, and I know during that 10 minute slot I will sob my heart out, everything I do in my is geared towards moving to live and work in China in 2 years time.
Whilst I don't agree with zoos per se, two are also going to Beauval in France which to my mind is the best zoo I have ever seen anywhere in the world, so I'll be off to France next year to see them!
Panda 'tat' is already massive. Last time I was in the zoo there was 1 woman in buying Christmas presents. She spent well over £100 on stuffed pandas for various nieces and nephews. Kids seem to be leaving the zoo in droves with Panda balloons already and I imagine that will go into overdrive once people see the pandas in situ.
Is it normal for the names of pandas to be anglisised? There seem to be a lot of people referring to them as Sunshine and Sweetie instead of Tian Tian and Yang Guang.
Is it normal for the names of pandas to be anglisised? There seem to be a lot of people referring to them as Sunshine and Sweetie instead of Tian Tian and Yang Guang.
well the revenue from the shop sales goes towards the fees for the pandas, and whilst I won't be rushing in to buy any myself I can appreciate how much the zoo is capitalising on having the pandas as it is well known that in year three of having them revenue falls massively, as seen by the zoos in the states.
I haven't been to the zoo in over 30 years but I do feel that having the pandas has saved the zoo from closure. They know that people are going to travel to see them, I just hope the rest of the zoo is okay - Beauval is the most amazing and best zoo I have ever visited, I specifically go there once a year to see the manatees as they are my second passion after pandas and I hope Edinburgh doesn't lose sight of the fact that they should not solely concentrate on the pandas.
I think their names get anglicized as most people couldn't pronounce their chinese names - I can speak basic mandarin but I just used their English version of their names without even thinking.
I haven't been to the zoo in over 30 years but I do feel that having the pandas has saved the zoo from closure. They know that people are going to travel to see them, I just hope the rest of the zoo is okay - Beauval is the most amazing and best zoo I have ever visited, I specifically go there once a year to see the manatees as they are my second passion after pandas and I hope Edinburgh doesn't lose sight of the fact that they should not solely concentrate on the pandas.
I think their names get anglicized as most people couldn't pronounce their chinese names - I can speak basic mandarin but I just used their English version of their names without even thinking.
adrian1963
Well-Known Member
I was wondering who will be the first to post a photograph of the Panda's in the Gallery I know it won't be me as I am not going until next september now.
Lesley4444
Well-Known Member
Im booked in to see them on the 13th of December... got my camera ready!!..lol
Thank you for confirming that Edinburgh Zoo has had no commercial sponsorship for the giant pandas, I wonder why?, The current economic climate I would think has a lot to do with it, everyone has their belts tightened, I personally think, however there is more to it than this, Edinburgh Zoo has not recently enjoyed good press, caused by, 1)Management difficulties, 2) the culling of two healthy red river hoglets, 3) animal welfare issues, including the sea lion pool and cat enclosures being deemed unsatisfactory by the official zoo inspectors.4) Advertising a show for £20 per ticket to watch a dead large animal being dissected in a "Inside Natures Giants" fashion, not even enough tickets booked for this spectacle by the ghouls and weirdos, resulting in this most unsavoury "show" being cancelled, resulting in even more negative publicity for this zoo, not to worry , people are buying at the gift shop, and don't forget the cuddly toy, good game, good game and didn't they do well!
Do you know if the male of this pair has sired offspring by natural mating, or only by AI?
This IMO was one of the most bizarre and ill-conceived decisions I've come across by a Zoo in recent years and there has never been a satifactory explanation forthcoming from the Zoo or anywhere else as to why they took it, or allowed it to become public(presumably that wasn't meant to happen ). Particularly as I believe the parent pair have bred twice more and there is now a group of seven(?), it makes that original decision even weirder. But I'm sure its all been conveniently swept under the carpet and we will never know the reason now. The arrival of the Giant Pandas should help obliterate this and the other recent bad memories at Edinburgh, and they have certainly had plenty.
The post mortem event a few months ago was not cancelled and attended by many interested people who might object to being called weirdos (is it any weirder than watching it on television?). The animal was not a large animal but the patagonian sea lion pup which died and would have been post-mortemed by the zoo vet anyway to find out the cause of death, and a snake was also post-mortemed for the same reason. Just because you don't agree with it doesn't mean it was unsavoury as the procedure is carried out anyway and if some people are interested enought and keen to learn more about the workings of an animal and how/why a post mortem is carried out then I don't see what's wrong with that. Vet students probably made up most of the attendees as they don't often get the chance to observe the post mortem of an exotic species so whether or not they learn anything from it I don't think is for you to judge.
karenZOO
Well-Known Member
Is soooo excited about the pandas I have booked a holiday to Scotland next year so I can see them on the way back down 
only 10 months to wait tho 
I read some people have booked tickets, is that just for the preview or will entrance to the panda 'bit' be by timed tickets? I think a moving pathway would have been a good idea lol
I am soooo going to buy all the 'tat'
only 10 months to wait tho I read some people have booked tickets, is that just for the preview or will entrance to the panda 'bit' be by timed tickets? I think a moving pathway would have been a good idea lol
I am soooo going to buy all the 'tat'
Lesley4444
Well-Known Member
Karen i think it was yourself i met at Tywcross Zoo earlier this year when i came to see the snowleopard cubs?... if so then now you know the feel i had about seeing those two little guys...lol
As far as i am lead to believe the ticket system is only till the end of January... however they might put it back in place at busy times... i think its kinda a wait and see thing. You need to prebook your ticket to get to see the pandas and their enclosure. Mines is already booked for the 13th of December... extremely excited! infact its whats gonna get me through working 5 12hr shifts next week...lol
As far as i am lead to believe the ticket system is only till the end of January... however they might put it back in place at busy times... i think its kinda a wait and see thing. You need to prebook your ticket to get to see the pandas and their enclosure. Mines is already booked for the 13th of December... extremely excited! infact its whats gonna get me through working 5 12hr shifts next week...lol