There must be concern amongst those that need the Giant Panda to be endangered so that they can continue to exploit its image for their own ends, that it's now less endangered than before. As such, it must be feared that the credulous may now be less likely to cough up their cash.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has declared that the Giant Panda is no longer endangered but just "vulnerable". The justification for this is based on China’s wild panda population increasing from 1,596 in 2004 to 1,864 in 2014.
This does not sound a lot to me, especially as they remain as feckless as ever, and the Chinese State Forestry Administration immediately said:
“If we downgrade their conservation status, or neglect or relax our conservation work, the populations and habitats of giant pandas could still suffer irreversible loss and our achievements would be quickly lost. We’re not being alarmist by continuing to emphasise the panda species’ endangered status.”
... reminding everyone that Giant Pandas still struggle to reproduce (ie, feckless), arguing that they remain at great risk of extinction.
Meanwhile, on BBC Radio 4 2200 News one night, a bloke whose name I missed commented on the importance of Giant Pandas in the wild, saying how difficult it is to help population numbers by captive breeding programmes. He summed it up nicely in a memorable phrase:
"It's hard to teach a panda to be a panda."
Indeed it is. Ungrateful b****s.
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