Saving the Pandas: China’s Complex Breeding Program and Conservation Efforts

2024-02-13 17:02:00

Less than ten years ago, the end of pandas was predicted. The bamboo and eucalyptus-loving animals were in acute danger of extinction in 2015. A viral disease that was dangerous for bears and was rampant in China painted a bleak picture at the time.

A complex breeding program brings a change of course

The good news: The forecast did not come true. As the “Tagesspiegel” reports, the number of pandas in China has remained constant. There are currently around 1,900 pandas living in the wild in China. That’s 800 more than in the 1980s and regarding the same number as ten years ago.

Thanks to an extensive breeding program in the mountain forests of Sichuan Province in the southwest of the country, China has succeeded in increasing the population once more. There are said to be 230 pandas living in the region’s capital alone. But the animals are not yet completely saved. China recently downgraded the panda extinction risk from “very high” to “high.”

Role of pandas in China is very important

Animals are particularly important for the self-proclaimed Middle Kingdom. They are rented out to many zoos around the world as a kind of “ambassador” for the country. According to the Forestry Commission, China works with 20 institutions in 18 countries to conserve pandas. According to this, 56 giant pandas currently live outside of China. Panda offspring born abroad usually have to return to the People’s Republic.

China is not only the savior of the pandas, but is also largely responsible for the animals getting into distress in the first place. The WWF says: “The mountain forests of China, home of the pandas, were previously cut down on a large scale, converted into agricultural land and settlements, cut up by roads and railways, and divided into ever smaller islands. This makes life difficult for the pandas: they starve if there is not enough bamboo.”

In order to make the situation even safer for the animals, the animal protection organization is calling for its own protected areas with trained gamekeepers.

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