Panda expert claims the international breeding programme has failed

Panda expert Dr Sarah Bexell has said the international breeding programme to save giant pandas has failed 

Rebecca Flood 

Sunday 17 April 2016

A panda expert has said the captive breeding programme designed to save pandas should be scrapped because it is "giving humanity false hope". 

Dr Sarah Bexell, director of conservation education at the Chengdu Research Base, admitted in a frank documentary that the international effort to save the monochrome bears has not delivered the expected results.

Starting in 1987 with six pandas they rescued from the wild, the programme has since produced 400 offspring bred in captivity. 

But only five have been introduced back into the world, of which only three have survived. 

In the BBC Horizon documentary "Should We Close Our Zoos?", Dr Bexell says: “We’ve learned a lot, filled volumes of journals and textbooks but we have not made significant headway in terms of conservation.

“So I guess right now we would almost have to say it has been quite a failure and even though many of these projects even were considered successful for short periods of time, they’ve lost ground.

“Should we continue them? Right now I’m feeling no because I’m really worried that it’s sending the wrong message to humanity. It’s giving humanity false hope.”

She blamed the world’s ever-increasing population and consumerism for the steady decline in panda numbers. 

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Sweden: Pygmy hippopotamus born in Parken Zoo

A Swedish zoo has published pictures of its latest addition - a rare baby pygmy hippo that staff have already dubbed "Michelin Man" because of her appearance.

Olivia only weighed 6kg (13lb) when she was born a month ago in Parken Zoo, Eskilstuna, to female Krakunia and male Anton, the Aftonbladet newspaper reports. "She is the cutest little fatty you can imagine," Jennie Westander, a zoologist at Parken zoo, tells the paper. Olivia was born under an international breeding programme, and after spending two years with her mother, will be sent off to another zoo in Europe.

Pygmy hippos - an endangered species native to West Africa - look like the more well-known hippopotamus amphibius, but common hippos are about twice the size and weigh four times as much as most of their pygmy relatives. There are fewer than 3,000 of the mammals thought to be remaining in the wild.

Read on ...

Rare giant anteater born at Chester Zoo

Clinging tightly to its mother’s back, this baby giant anteater looks comfortable in its new surroundings at Chester Zoo.

The tiny youngster, whose gender is not yet known and is yet to be named, is only the second of the species to be born at the conservation charity.

Only just a few days old, the cute creature will spend the next six months leaning on its mother until it can fend for itself.

With anteaters known to hoover up an average of 30,000 ants in one day, it wont be too long before the youngster starts to grow.

Parents Pedro and Bliss, both aged three, arrived in 2010 as part of an international breeding programme.

‘Bliss is a very good mum and is so far doing an excellent job of looking after her new arrival,’ explained team manager David White.

‘She’s obviously very proud of her newborn and has, every now and again, been parading around and showing off to our visitors.

‘Seeing the youngster clinging on tightly to her tail is quite the sight!’

The Central and South American natives are classed as ‘vulnerable’ to extinction by conservationists and so the birth is good news for the unusual looking species.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/01/08/rare-giant-anteater-born-at-chester-zoo-3343673/