I imagine that number will go up substantially once they arrive... With both Copenhagen and now Ahtari receiving giant pandas, I wonder what other zoos will soon join the ranks.
Well Berlin and Rhenen are due them later this year, Prague have stated they're going to receive them and lintworm has said Zurich or Basel have expressed interest*. *Can't remember which and I'm too tired to check
But is it going to go up to ~1,000,000? That seems like a reasonable estimate for the number needed to finance the pandas. (Spoiler alert: it's not going to reach that high. Finland's total population is four million, much of which is concentrated in Helsinki, some 300km away)
No, it almost certainly won't. But Corax said it would be paid for with public funding, so attendance doesn't matter in this situation. Wow, that's even more than I was expecting! That will put the total up from 5 to 10 or 11. Why the sudden push?
Maybe the panda production rate in Chinese breeding stations has reached a quantity that makes it necessary to send more specimens off to free capacities? Or it's a strategic move to initiate & improve international business relationships?
Moscow are due a pair soon, i think China are pumping out their pandas on the $1million a year contract as quick as possible, having now been downgraded to vulnerable, with numbers going up, it's rarity value is losing it's gloss and allure. Moscow will be the first of the BRICS nations, with Brazil and SA following i'm guessing. I would not be surprised to see a pair turn up in the Middle East somewhere too.
It might not matter quite so much, but taxpayers expect to see public money spent judiciously, and there would be some questions about that here. However, if we had bothered to read vogelcommando's link a different picture emerges. It seems that Panda Diplomacy is back. Apparently the pandas are a gift to celebrate 100 years of Finnish independence, and to recognise that in general Finland was ahead of the pack in welcoming the PRC onto the world stage. A message from my Finnish friend confirms that that is the perception in Finland, and I suspect this isn't just rhetoric as it would be pretty embarrassing if it was later revealed Finland actually paid for this 'birthday present'.
There is no 1 Million ( Dollar ? Euro ? Lira ? Zloty ?) a year contract, but this is what most people belive. The chinese government ist doing a new, own contract with each holder of Giant pandas, so the rent ist diffrent from zoo to zoo. Because the high of this rent is never published by the zoos or the chinese govenrment, nobody knows how much Berlin, Vienna, Rhenen, Edinburgh and so on, have to pay each year for their giant pandas-but probably it is not cheapBut, as it turns out, it could still be very lucrative for the zoos, despite the high rent. Nevertheless, every zoo must decide by himself, if he want and if he can pay it. Well, I like Giant pandas, the breeding in chinese facilities is fortuanetly doing very, very well, so it is nice to get more of them in europe-why not ? Some people criticises the rent of giant pandas for political reasons, so I did in the past, but nowadays,I look at the somewhat more relaxed, because for the animals itselfs, it was good, so I have no problem with it anymore. I guess, China is glad to send them out to other countries to improve the relationships them. And we all know very well, why Tapei Zoo got his Pandas....
The 2 Giant Pandas 'Jin Baobao' and 'Hua Bao' both left Dujiangyan Giant Panda Base earlier today and are expected to arrive in Finland tomorrow at 10:00am.
Tickets are now available on the zoos website, €30, with the first viewing being next Saturday (17th February 2018). I also read on their website the plan is for China to have 400 pandas in zoos outside of China.
That article states that the zoo lost €800,000 last year, directly due to costs with the pandas. Does that mean they're paying for them then? The article also repeats that the pandas were a gift to improve relations and celebrate the anniversary... Anybody else confused?
Given that the pandas only arrived this year, I'd suspect that the loss reported for last year is probably due to construction costs and things of that nature related to the panda exhibition.
I'm not confused, Ähtäri Zoo clearly state on their website how the compensation they are paying to China is spent. What happens to the compensation paid to China for the pandas? The pandas belong to China and are only on loan at the Ähtäri Zoo. The contract stipulates that the Ähtäri Zoo participate in panda conservation work by e.g. supporting conservation projects financially. Of these funds, 70% will go to the conservation efforts of pandas in the wild and their home forests, 10% to research, and 10% to management. Nowadays, the use of these funds is methodically planned in China and controlled by external auditors. Such support is important for the conservation efforts of the natural populations and their habitats. The Ähtäri Zoo’s operations follow the strategy of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), according to which the survival of endangered species is safeguarded by supporting the conservation of the population in the wild (in situ conservation) by keeping individuals in captivity (ex situ conservation). The above paragraph is found at the bottom of this page: Q & A - Ähtäri Zoo
The giant pandas are risking getting sent back to China without financial aid to the zoo. Ähtärin eläinpuisto varoittaa: Pandoja uhkaa palautus Kiinaan jo vuodenvaihteen jälkeen – MTV sai haltuunsa sähköpostin
It was really weird that was Ahtari the chosen Finnish zoo for pandas, and this kind of scenario could have been predictable as the zoo is not rich and there are not so many visitors that go there only to see pandas...
Well if they we're going to go to a Finnish zoo they could'nt have gone to Helsinki zoo since its on an island and it's kinda running out of room. Ranua wildlife park could have gotten them but it might be too north.
Some background info about the pandas with sources from Finnish press! All three big zoos in Finland (Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki, Ähtäri Zoo and Ranua Zoo) were first considered to be the new home for the pandas. Korkeasaari Zoo's previous director Jukka Salo was the one to start the whole thing back in 2014 (Yle). Then as he resigned, Korkeasaari Zoo got a new director who quickly declined the pandas: calculations were made that there wouldn't be enough visitors in southern Finland to cover the costs (IS), and Korkeasaari already had other big building projects planned. So the pandas ended up in Ähtäri Zoo (with mr. Salo working with them). The city of Ähtäri backed their loan for the project - which ended up being illegal, as it was too big of a financial risk (IL). And now of cource they're having financial problems, and the Chinese Embassy is trying to help them with the funding to keep the pandas (MTV)
