TMCnet News
1 MINUTE BRIEFING(The Sunday Herald Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)What's all the fuss about pandas then? Zoos in the US are asking China to reduce the loan fees they pay in order to have giant pandas on display in their facilities. My panda maths is a little off . . . what's the deal at the moment? Well, the four US zoos with pandas essentially rent them from China at a cool dollars-1million (GBP580,000) a year . . . per panda . . . so it's getting pricey. So, essentially they want a discount on pandas? Yup. As endangered mammals (and also terribly cute) the pandas do pull in the crowds at the various zoos, but only when there are cubs to coo at, not fat grown-up ones. Grown-up pandas don't sell a lot of merchandising then? It seems not . . . stuffed toys and baseball caps seem to fly out the door when there are little 'uns, but the rest of the time the pandas are a big drain on the coffers of your average zoo. Plus, every time they do reproduce, China gets another whack of cash. How good are pandas at making babies? Not very, and there are only 1600 left in the wild. San Diego Zoo however has been lucky (and unlucky) in that it has had three panda births since 1999 . . . which it's had to pay China for. Panda baseball caps didn't make up the shortfall? Put it this way . . . Atlanta's two pandas are also sponsored by telecoms firm BellSouth and Coca-Cola. Seriously. |