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Zoos' panda plans nixed by committee

"At the present time, we are not able to issue the documents to the applicants [Taipei City Zoo, Leofoo Village Zoo] which they would use to obtain the permit from the panda-exporting nation."

Lee Tao-sheng, deputy director of the Taiwan Forestry Bureau

Panda lovers were disappointed yesterday with the Taiwan Forestry Bureau after its announcement that it was opposed importing the endangered species because they would not receive proper care here.

The bureau said that the two zoos which have applied to take the pair of pandas being offered by China -- the Taipei City Zoo and the Leofoo Village Zoo -- had failed to present "specific details regarding the exhibition and conservation of extinct wildlife" in their applications to house the pandas.

The two zoos also failed to complete two key steps: construction of lodging facilities for the pandas and training their personnel to care for such animals.

"At the present time, we are not able to issue the documents to the applicants which they would use to obtain the permit from the panda-exporting nation," said Lee Tao-sheng (李桃生), deputy director of the bureau.

The council will make a formal announcement of its decision on Monday.

The meeting of a special committee formed to assess the possibility of importing pandas from China lasted three hours and included 12 representatives from academia and other government agencies.

The bureau's statement indicated that the committee had based its review on the regulations set out in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

However, politics has clouded the deliberations from the very beginning.

There were media reports that the Government Information Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had prepared a statement in February to reject the entry of the pandas.

The offer of the pandas had been made by Beijing last year when then-chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Lien Chan (連戰) was visiting China.

The forestry bureau was forced to say that it was denying entry because of "technical difficulties, not because of political influence," one media outlet reported, noting that both President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Council Minister Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) had both expressed objections to accepting the pandas.

Bureau officials were simply following orders, the report said.

"Pandas that are reared like a livestock in pens and are bequeathed as gifts will not be happy," Chen said in the current edition of his A-bian e-newsletter, which was published yesterday.

Neither the Taipei City Zoo nor the Leofoo Village Zoo were available for comments as of press time last night.

Prior to the bureau's announcement Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that the city's zoo was well-equipped to raise the animals.
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