Hebben panda's in China het recht om over hun eigen lot te beslissen.....- Dieren vaak als politiek middel ingezet

Liberate Panda from Politics

10-02-2010 By Yuan Boyang, China Daily, China


Do pandas even have the right to determine their own fate?
Over a hundred kinds of nationally protected animals, including pandas and golden monkeys, must propagate with help from humans to prevent the risk of their extinction. However, as the national treasure of China, pandas have one more burden – they are image ambassadors of China.

In historical records, Panda diplomacy dates back more than a thousand years ago. In AD685, the female emperor Wu Zetian of China’s Tang dynasty sent two pandas to Japan as a gift. This is the origin of Panda diplomacy.

Before 1949, more than 50 pandas had been sent abroad as gifts. When Europeans first saw pandas in 1869, they fell in love with the marvelous creatures. Driven by affection and curiosity, more and more European people came to China to explore the home of pandas.

The apex event of Panda diplomacy happened in 1972 when U.S. President Nixon visited China. Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai gave two pandas to the American people as ‘Red China’s gift to the U.S’. In the following decade, no matter where pandas appeared in the Western world, millions of people would turn out for a glimpse.

But is the panda comfortable with this grand destiny? Is it really so light-hearted an animal like we think, always playing and fooling around? Does it feel homesick when it is thousands of miles away from its native land? Why does a panda have to be involved in human political affairs?

China has an ancient political tradition called Heqin, namely alliance by marriage. From Han’s Wang Zhaojun to Tang’s Princess Wencheng, women were exchanged as tokens for peace when marriages were conducted for political trade. In the Middle Ages of Europe, such events were very common. Now the panda gifts are just like that old policy, which sacrifices the panda’s happiness for political purposes.

Records show that only a few couples of pandas abroad can get along well along with each other, and even fewer can breed. Most pandas sent abroad in early time died from digestive system disease instead of natural causes, according to Wei Longping, the director of Wolong Panda Breeding Institution.

World communities pay more attention to wild animal protection, and people protest against slaughtering and eating wild animals in any form. However, if the protection is beneficial for humans but unfavorable for the animal, is our motive still pure and valid? Before stopping disturbance to other creatures’ lives, human cannot allege equality on earth.

(Bron: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/)
(Bron cartoon: China Daily)