Description: This is a clip from Chengdu's Panda Research Centre... not (technically) a zoo... But, pandas are in the news again this week. Particularly in Japan - where it appears China is using pandas as diplomatic aids. Animal rights activists are urging Japan to reject Chinese President Hu Jintao's offer of two pandas to the Tokyo Zoo. PETA wants Japan to put a stop on the deal and say the pandas would be miserable outside of their natural habitat. Japan's favourite panda, Ling Ling, died in the Tokyo Zoo last week. PETA says the two new pandas are being leased and the zoo will pay about a million dollars a year for each animal. PETA sent a letter to the Japanese foreign minister saying "Pandas are an endangered species, not a commodity to be traded for human amusement." "In honour of the late Ling Ling -- the panda who spent his entire life in a zoo, where he was denied his freedom, the right to choose his own mate, and everything that was natural and important to him -- we urge Minister Komura to declare that no more pandas will be taken from their homes and sentenced to a life at the Ueno Zoo." Ling Ling died of heart failure last week at the age of 22 -- the equivalent of 70 in human years. Zookeepers tried but failed to encourage Ling Ling to mate with visiting pandas. There is a lesson here...

Tags:

animal rights

chengdu

china

country

panda

panda diplomacy

Groups: Animal Rights