The comments came after Wellington Deputy Mayor Justin Lester said on Friday that the council was looking to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a business case for the proposal.
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Prime Minister John Key opened the door to taxpayer funding for the Wellington Zoo acquisition.
He offers a Panda Parody and says: “You have to have a sense of humour and if we get more of this during the next twelve months till the election, it will make it more bearable for everyone…”
In 2010 Mr Key raised the possibility of a deal with China in which giant pandas would be lent to a New Zealand zoo, but the Christchurch earthquakes the following year and in 2012 put that project on the backburner.
Prime Minister John Key said he doesn’t think it will be that much, but it will be expensive, and they’re considering a taxpayer contribution.
The Wellington City Council has been debating the idea, though there has been some concern the cost to bring the animals to New Zealand would outweigh the benefits.
The annual cost of leasing a pair of pandas from China was put at $1.4m, but the costs of feeding them and building facilities to house them would also be considerable. It cost a further 4 million Dollars to build the conservation center in the zoo.
“Does he know that when Adelaide Zoo got pandas, the increase in visitor numbers was temporary, and costs were so high the zoo had to be bailed out by the Government?” he asked.
Labour leader Andrew Little said it was no surprise the Government would be supportive of the idea.
Their arrival coincided with the Malaysian national zoo’s 50th anniversary and the event was headlined by the opening of the Giant Panda Conservation and Exhibition Center.
According to the White House, the two first ladies plan to stop by the Panda House, current home of the 5-week-old giant panda cub born in August.
“I love pandas, I’d love them to come here, but we simply can’t afford it”, Mr Eagle says.
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“They would need a bit of money”. The National Zoo says on its Web site that it’s taking the naming process of the 2-pound cub, which will go on public display around its four-month birthday, “one day at a time right now”.
