Too Much Love

Man may end up loving the giant panda to death. Fewer than 1,000 of the teddy bear-like creatures roam the mountainous bamboo forests of central China, and only 100 others survive in captivity--mostly in Chinese zoos. In February China sent a tremor through the world of naturalists by announcing that hunters had poached 146 pandas--an eighth of the population--in recent years. But there is another, less obvious, threat to this critically endangered species--China’s “rent-a-panda” program.

Foreign zoos eager to increase attendance and boost their revenues are clamoring to borrow the prized animals, always certain crowd-pleasers. China has been more than willing to comply--for a price, usually $500,000 and upwards for a six-month loan. The number of pandas lent abroad has ballooned since 1984, when a pair were lent to the Los Angeles Zoo; this year seven pairs will be sent to zoos as far flung as Toledo, Ohio, and Toronga Park, in Australia. Now theme parks and state fairs are competing for pandas, too.

The problem with such loans, as the World Wildlife Fund and the American Assn. of Zoological Parks and Aquariums complained in a lawsuit filed last month, is that China regularly sends abroad pandas of breeding age--a foolish move if the Chinese are serious about saving the animals from extinction. Both organizations are also concerned that the pandas generate so much foreign exchange for China and so much revenue for foreign zoos that pressure will mount to take more pandas from the wild.

Such commercial exploitation is outlawed by both the 1982 Endangered Species Act and an international convention signed by 95 nations, including China and the United States. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, however, has been a party to the exploitation of pandas by issuing import permits in response to pressure from politicians demanding pandas for their hometown zoos. On Monday the World Wildlife Fund and the zoological association sought a preliminary injunction from a federal court in Washington to stop the current panda exhibit in Toledo and to force the Fish and Wildlife Service to ban all trade in pandas unless it is conducted for scientific purposes and enhances the animals’ survival, as the law requires. The judge may rule later this week.

China, although not a party to the lawsuit, is sensitive to the implied criticism of the way it treats its pandas. Last week it issued new restrictions on foreign loans of pandas and revealed plans for a matchmaking scheme that will increase artificial breeding of the animals. Instead of letting Chinese zoos strike lucrative deals with their foreign counterparts, a national association will decide which animals can travel, but it is still unclear whether breeding-age animals will be kept at home, where they belong. Chinese authorities also have pledged to reorganize their chaotic panda breeding program, matching up captive animals that are capable of reproduction and making breeding a national priority.

Pandas of breeding age will be much better off in China than they will entertaining visitors at American zoos. Even in the 12 vast mountain reserves that the Chinese have set aside for pandas, the solitary, skittish animals reproduce at a very slow rate--at least two years between births. And only the Chinese have had any real success with artificial breeding; they have bred 28. Sending sexually mature pandas abroad detracts from the breeding program and further endangers the pandas’ survival. As generations of children have known, there is something very special about pandas; now it’s time that the governments of China and the United States recognize that they have special responsibilities for saving these uniquely appealing beasts.