Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) wishes to express our stand against the proposed acquisition of giant pandas by Malaysia’s Zoo Negara.

An astronomical sum of RM30 million for this exchange programme is ridiculous and serious consideration should be given as to whether the zoo has the resources to sustain this animal in the long-term.

Not forgetting that it has to maintain the services of the staff and veterinarians and the pandas’ special diet of bamboo. After all, the zoo is only dependent on gate collections, sponsorships and donations for the running of the zoo’s large menagerie. So should the zoo spend such an enormous amount on acquiring the pandas?

The zoo is already overstocked with 5,000 odd animals from about 450 species many of which are high- profile animals.

The money should instead be channeled to manage the resident animals which are sorely in need of space. The funds could also be used for the development of naturalistic zoo exhibits and environmental enrichment.

Head swaying, pacing in circles, self-grooming and different forms of neuroses are prevalent in many of the animals presently housed in Zoo Negara.

There is a need to improve animal husbandry in the zoo where serious research is needed into the animals’ behaviour and captive requirements of all the animals exhibited in the zoo.

The claim that Zoo Negara is not attracting visitors is not because it does not have high-profile animals but is, in fact, not properly run by its committee. Defects or inadequacies affecting captive animals can be traced to single source i,. the human element.

Included in the exchange programme between Zoo Negara and the Chinese zoos are painted storks and milky storks for which there is a surplus.

The milky stork is a highly endangered bird threatened with extinction in Malaysia and as such, there should be captive breeding of them for re-stocking the wild population. SAM sees no rationale in exchanging them for China’s ringtail lemurs, white tigers, and golden monkeys.

Pandas and other new ‘recruitments’ will certainly bring in increased gate collections but like so many species in captivity, they can exhibit the same patterns of disturbed behaviour arising from boredom and stress.

The real justification for zoos has to be public education. A great majority of people are ignorant about causes and effects of habitat destruction as we continue to destroy wild habitats on a vast and frightening scale.

Conservation is served much better by habitat protection than by putting pandas behind bars in zoos.

The writer is president, Sahabat Alam Malaysia.