UK Only Article:
standard article
Issue:
Art of the lie
Fly Title:
Giant pandas
Location:
BEIJING
Print section
Main image:
20160910_CNP002_0.jpg
Rubric:
Down in the bamboo forest, something stirred
GOOD news about conservation is always welcome, and never more so than when it concerns that most charismatic of charismatic mega-fauna, the giant panda. On September 5th the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an environmental group that links governments and NGOs, downgraded the international symbol of cuteness from “endangered” (meaning with a high risk of extinction in the wild) to “vulnerable” (ie, to becoming endangered). “Everyone should celebrate,” said Lo Sze Ping, the boss of WWF-China, a group whose logo is the cuddly-looking creature.
China has made huge efforts to promote panda-breeding over the past 30 years. But those efforts have nothing to do with the animal’s reclassification. They take ...
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