Black and White and Fed All Day

He sits like a Buddha and goes through bamboo leaves like a lawn mower. He is giant panda Chuan Chuan, and he has no clue that his keepers at the Shanghai Zoo are sweating bullets over the rising cost of his favorite chow.

“At this rate, there will definitely not be enough food by next year,” said Chen Guoliang, the giant panda’s caretaker. “We are paying the higher price now, but there’s no way we can sustain it.”

It might seem bizarre that the animal that Chinese consider a cultural icon could be running out of food.

The problem is not that China has stopped cherishing or protecting the cuddly black-and-white endangered species. It’s just that everything in China is now plunging into the unpredictable currents of economic reform--including wild animals.

“People’s living standards rose; so did prices for everything we need. But money from the state went down,” Chen said.

Under the command economy, zoos were completely subsidized by the government. The state took care of them the way zookeepers look after their animals. The government still funds zoos, but it’s also encouraging employees to find independent means to increase cash flow. From improving services to attracting more customers and holding down costs, the more you earn, the more you have.

In the old days, the precious pandas were regularly given as state gifts to wealthy countries such as the U.S. and Japan. Now only about 1,000 of them remain in the world, and they command a hefty price whenever they’re “on loan” to host nations.

The majority of pandas living in China’s urban zoos prefer to eat only certain kinds of young bamboo--always freshly picked and never shipped in from afar.

But in recent years, the local bamboo forests have been dwindling, in part because the market for the green stalks has been shrinking. Plastic has become a cheap substitute for straw in baskets and other items, said Wang Fusheng, a researcher at the Nanjing College of Forestry. Farmers are switching to more productive use of their land.

While the finicky vegetarian has adjusted to a modern supplement of bread, milk, apples and eggs, bamboo remains the cornerstone of his culinary world. Chuan Chuan can’t seem to have enough of it. On any given day, the 30-year-old father of four devours more than 65 pounds of leaves and stalks.

No one at the zoo dares to deny him, even though the price of the plant has gone up more than twofold. And it’s made worse by the coming of age of Chuan Chuan’s 2-year-old son, Le Le, who now eats more than his dad.

And the shortage could become more acute if the female panda impregnated by Chuan Chuan on his annual mating voyage to Sichuan province this spring yields a cub.

The zoo’s regular supplier said it is no longer able to meet the demand without hurting its young bamboo groves. So the zoo has been forced to look elsewhere, and the new seller isn’t willing to give anything away.

“They said they are already offering us a great deal, but it’s still too expensive for us,” said Chen, the caretaker.

But zoo officials quickly learned the power of public sympathy.

When news spread last month that the two pandas at the zoo are facing a food crisis, residents went into action. Some picked the best bamboo from their backyards and delivered it to the zoo on bicycles in 90-degree heat. Others either called in with names of bamboo farmers they know or offered to sell land so the zoo could plant its own crop.

The zoo isn’t afraid to admit that it’s looking for a long-term solution that taps into the furry creature’s fund-raising potential. That means getting the word out to private businesses and individuals at home and abroad, letting them know of the panda’s plight. Already officials are trying an adopt-an-animal program in which donors are honored with plaques that hang next to the animal’s cage.

“The panda’s survival depends on our government’s policy, but also cooperation from the international community,” said Li Guanghan of the Panda Breeding Research Center in Sichuan.

Chen is more direct: “We hope this incident raises people’s awareness about pandas. And we hope people with the means would step up and lend a helping hand.”