NP - "Why I Hate Pandas and You Should Too"

[Charles Albert]

*Lu Zhi, a panda expert from Beijing University, has
said<http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/science/wildlife-news/120924/national-zoo-panda-death-endangered-species>that
trying to reintroduce pandas to the wild is as "pointless as taking
off the pants in order to fart." Yet the Chinese government -- which sees
pandas as a source of national pride -- spares no expense on them. That
includes funding the Hetaoping Research and Conservation Center for the
Giant Panda, where researchers dress
up<http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2010/12/panda-costume.html#sthash.Xj96bqTx.dpuf>in
preposterous panda costumes (I'm really not
joking about this<http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/12/ok-it-seems-the-panda-men-are-real/68048/>)
hoping to fool cubs into thinking they're a relative.

This in a country where roughly 160 million people still live in extreme
poverty<http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2013/04/18/heres-how-much-poverty-has-declined-in-china/>.
And all to protect about 1,600 dim herbivores that are debasing the word
"bear," which otherwise applies to noble beasts that manage to find plenty
to eat in the wild.*

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-27/why-i-hate-pandas-and-you-should-too.html
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