Pandas Are Rubbish

Pandas are rubbish. Well, that was the conclusion that we came to this week. I know there are a few conservationists that disagree with the amount of time, money and effort that is spent on panda conservation given that their main problem is that they appear to have chosen an evolutionary dead end by being carnivorous bears that have adopted a vegetarian diet whilst losing practically all interest in reproduction; but that isn’t really why I think they are rubbish. I came to this conclusion after a visit to the zoo.

I last went to Edinburgh Zoo around 3 years ago and at that time their giant pandas were not on display for reasons best known to themselves (well, their keepers anyway). My daughter had spent an evening at the zoo a couple of months ago with a youth group in what had, at first, sounded like a “night at the museum” type trip. In fact this is largely what it was but, unlike the museum, most of the zoo’s exhibits tend to pack up and go to sleep at night. As I had last Monday off work and needed to amuse her for the day she decided that a day at the zoo sounded like a good idea.

Being October and a weekday it was a good time to visit the zoo as it was fairly quiet. When we arrived I was asked whether we would like an appointment to see the pandas. It appears that they now regard themselves on a par with the Pope in granting audiences but I thought we may as well give it a go. At the allotted time we went along to see said pandas and received a very informative lecture from their keeper but the pandas themselves didn’t show. All I have to show for the visit is this picture of a pile of panda food:

The only thing I would say in their defence is that the publicity that pandas attract both for a tourist attraction like Edinburgh Zoo or in the general world of conservation brings in quite a bit of finance that less attractive, if more worthy, endangered species don’t. Since my last visit the zoo looks to be really in top condition both for the exhibits on show and in terms of the conservation work that is going on. Many, if not most of the exhibits are endangered or at least threatened in the wild and they appear to be involved in many breeding programmes to keep the species alive. They also appear to have upgraded many of the enclosures which, if not entirely ideal compared to a life in the wild, appear to be keeping the animals content and stress free. Maybe pandas aren’t completely rubbish after all.