Giant Pandas Close to Extinction

Imagine that you are standing in the mid of a big zoo in some big metro of some rich western
country. It can be the Edinburgh Zoo right in the center of a busy city or the biggest zoo in
the world San Diego Zoo established in Balboa Park California. You are surrounded by
people and noises made by animals; giving you feel of the jungle. You are passing by animals
and you celebrate their presence as long as they are alive and safe from their biggest enemies;
their biggest admirers, human beings. Then you pass by the swamp where a Java Rhinoceros
was supposed to be half dunked in water but you only read a sign saying “Extinct”, then you
pass by the cage of Cross River Gorilla from Nigeria and instead of watching a big ape few
steps shy of evolution, you read same sign saying “Extinct”. You are now walking towards
the habitat of Giant Panda which can be seen from far due to the bamboos grown up there to
make it look natural habitat of Giant Panda in southern central China; to your dismay you
read the same board saying “Extinct “. This last board makes you desperately irritated and
you ask yourself, “Where’s the Panda which I came to see?” but there’s no one to answer
you, because ”you” are the one responsible for this extinction; many of those creatures of
God that human beings were afraid of and yet admired are close to extinction due to direct
encroachment of human beings in their natural habitats for their skin, food, horns and
establishing settlements or due to mad industrialization which is killing the environment
required for their survival.

Well that was a very bleak image which may come true in future but until now none of these
animals including Pandas has gone extinct. Pandas are also known as Giant Pandas to
distinguish them from Red Pandas. This animal which is now ambassador of many brands
including WWF and which is considered the best diplomat to represent “positive China” with
its Panda policy all around the world; distinguished with his black and white patterns and
innocent look is loved by all especially children. Panda is a bear and thus basically a
carnivorous, however his food largely bases on bamboos. As per an estimate only around
2000 Pandas remain in the wild at the moment which are endangered due to loss of habitats,
poaching and low birthrate. However preventive measures were taken in time; by banning
Panda poaching and removal of humans from their habitats as far as possible, which
improved conservation of this endangered species and they are now believed to be increasing
in number again.

Panda diplomacy has also played a vital role in saving this endangered species. China has
been gifting Pandas to zoos all around the world since 70s. First countries to receive those
gifts were USA and Japan; it was the Chinese way of melting the ice. Noticing Panda’s
unparalleled fame among western people especially children; they decided to make money
from selling Panda pairs with the conditions that cubs shall be deemed to be property of
China. Western zoos paid hefty amount in dollars to buy Pandas and largely this money was
believed to be used on conservation cause. China made Panda its peace and friendship
ambassador and gifted Panda pairs to different nations including Taiwan which reluctantly
accepted this gift ignoring that the gifting nation has been on loggerheads with them.
Pandas are still far from “extinction” and their number is believed to be increasing, not
enough to reclassify the species from endangered to vulnerable though. Hard work still needs
to be done to increase their number to a certain level where Panda lovers can be assured that
presence of this innocent bear-cat shall always be celebrated and it shall not only be seen in
photos like unfortunate Tasmanian Tiger.