Summary: Is Breeding Pandas In Captivity Worth It?
671 Words3 Pages
Argumentative Essay 1 Panda Bear populations in Central China are endangered with less than 1600 pandas residing in the wild. The article, "Is Breeding Pandas in Captivity Worth It?" by Christine Dell' Amore questions the effectiveness of millions of dollars invested in breeding pandas in captivity. Pandas are attractive to the public in zoos causing people to care and contribute to the conversation cause. These conservationists try to breed pandas under pressure in captivity in effort to stabilize the panda population. However, this money should be directed towards restoration of habitats to introduce pandas back into their environment in their natural state. "Giant panda breeding efforts have actually been really successful" by Jason…show more content… First, habit restoration is the ultimate goal of all panda saving conservations. therefore, it only makes sense to work directly upon it. Marc Brody,advisor at Wolong Nature Reserve, stated,".....question is not can we breed an animal in captivity, but can we give him a home in the wild—and that means restoring degraded and fragmented habitat,". (Amore,2013) The natural habitat of the pandas has been destroyed by human impact. Humans can influence population and the overall fate of a species. It is in the benefit of the panda population if their habitat is restored. Second, excessive amounts of money is being spent on pandas in captivity. Chris Packham, president of Britain's Bat Conservation Trust states,"....one of the grossest wastes of conservation money...is on Pandas. Resources should be transferred to more sensible organisms."(Buchen,2008) Due to the high popularity of pandas among humans, they receive the greatest attention and other species are left to become extinct. Additionally, There is no progress made to restore nature habitat. Focus is placed on captivity programs which have been continuing since half a century. The already low number of Wild Pandas are continuing to die out as their natural habitat disappears due to the increase in China's economic growth.