Wildlife expert Chris Packham questions whether too much money is being “wasted” on saving pandas.

He is not the only one complaining about panda conservation efforts.

Giant pandas are incredibly polarizing creatures on account of their tremendous visibility. You either love them or you hate them. Those that hate them argue that pandas are taking up resources that can be better spent on other animals. Why protect a evolutionary dead-end that cannot reproduce, eats too much and costs so much?

In an ideal world, we would not have to justify trying to protect an animal from extinction but then again in an ideal world, there wouldn’t be any of these problems.

So why should we invest resources to helping pandas?

Flagship species-

Flagship species are species that stand as symbols of conservation, as in the case of giant pandas. Their popularity brings in money that allows for less popular but vital research and conservation efforts to be done. Without these flagship species, there would be a lot less funding available for conservation efforts, putting back the fight to save the Earth by years.

Although pandas receive a disproportionate amount of resources and attention, much of these resources are used to help other animals, especially those in same habitat. For example, by setting up panda reserves, red pandas, who inhabit the same habitat are also protected.

The Chengdu panda base does something similar. They use pandas to draw tourists and resources towards their center, which they then use to breed other endangered species. However, since the other animals are not as popular, it seems as though they are solely devoting their resources to pandas, which is not the case. Pandas are simply the bait. The fish caught is shared among all.

Additionally, resource allocation is not determined by logic but by how much the animal in question appeals to us. Even if these resources did not go to pandas, they would be going towards another charismatic megafauna. If the species is not attractive enough, even without the panda, little or low resources would be available towards conservation of said species.

 

Evolutionary Dead-end

Giant pandas are notoriously bad at reproduction. However, that is only in captivity, perhaps due to stress and overexposure to humans. In the wild, pandas are well able to reproduce on their own. While they may not reproduce as quickly as other species, they are threatened namely due to loss of habitat and poaching, not due to their low reproductive rates.

Thus, pandas are not useless and definitely worthy of protecting.