U.S. Puts Panda Applications on Hold
The Fish and Wildlife Service warned zoos Friday it will not consider applications to import pandas for exhibit while it tries to decide whether and how to restrict the practice.
A Federal Register notice said reported plans by 30 institutions in the United States and abroad to show pandas on loan from China are “posing new, cumulative threats to the wild and captive populations of the species.”
Pandas are an endangered species protected by treaty and may not be imported without a permit from the service. Only a few hundred live in the wild in China.
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