Officials deny zoo requests to house pandas for conservation

This article was written by June Tsai and published by the Taiwan Journal on April 7, 2006. It reports that the Council of Agriculture recently rejected applications by two zoos to import pandas from China. The zoos failed to provide concrete details as to how the import of two pandas would "strengthen wildlife conservation" as they proposed in their applications.

Both the Taipei Zoo and the Leofoo Village Theme Park in northern Taiwan's Hsinchu County applied to import pandas. However, neither of them is adequately prepared to care for the endangered animals, particularly in regard to the required breeding equipment and the training of medical and nursing staff.

The government's decision was based on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Conservation Act, and on Taiwan's own Wildlife Conservation Act. According to the law, the import of endangered species is allowed for the purposes of academic research and education only.

Animal rights activists supported the government's decision. According to them, the US$1.2 million needed each year to care for two pandas in captivity would be better spent protecting them in their natural habitat.

Currently, it is estimated that nearly 1,600 pandas are living in the wild, while 168 are in captivity.