“Previously listed as Endangered, The Giant Panda is now listed as Vulnerable, as its population has grown due to effective forest protection and reforestation”, The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced on Sunday. “Therefore, we’re not being alarmist by continuing to emphasize the panda species’ endangered status”.
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The Chinese government and worldwide conservation groups and zoos have joined hands, and their collaborations thus brought giant pandas to zoos across the world.
Zhang Hemin, of the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda, known in China as the “father of pandas”, told the official Xinhua news agency that this was a hasty move. The organization has also used a giant panda’s likeness as its logo since 1961. Other factors like climate change in 80 years can destroy one-third of bamboos that serve as the animal’s natural habitat.
One of the world’s most popular totems of the need for wildlife conservation may now become a symbol for the movement’s success: the beloved giant panda is officially no longer an endangered species.
The status update is good news for the animals, but it doesn’t mean that pandas are safe. “Knowing that the panda is now a step further from extinction is an exciting moment for everyone committed to conserving the world’s wildlife and their habitats”, Marco Lambertini, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) director general, said.
The news, however, is not so upbeat for the Eastern gorilla.
The Eastern Gorilla is now critically endangered, joining three other great apes on the list – the Western Gorilla, Bornean Orangutan and Sumatran Orangutan. The first assessment of the giant panda made by the IUCN in 1965 described the species as “very rare but believed to be stable or increasing”.
In the past 20 years, Grauer’s gorillas have been severely affected by human activities, the victim of poaching for bushmeat for those working in mining camps and for commercial trade, the IUCN said.
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Unfortunately, the new report also brought bad news for the Eastern Gorilla: the world’s largest living primate has experienced a 70% decline in its population over the past two decades because of hunting and civil wars in the region of Africa that it calls home, media reports indicate. The remaining two species are listed as endangered.
