LONDON: A British conservationist says pandas should be allowed to go extinct because they are "extraordinarily expensive to keep going" and may be surviving at the cost of other species and rainforests.
"Extinction is very much a part of life on earth. And we are going to have to get used to it in the next few years because climate change is going to result in all sorts of disappearances," TV naturalist Chris Peckham said.
He said the last large mammal to go extinct was the Chinese pink dolphin - allowed to disappear "because it was pig-ugly and swam around in a river where no one saw it", unlike the "fluffy" panda.
Peckham said huge amounts of money had been spent on a losing battle to save pandas, tigers and whales since campaigners started focusing on "charismatic animals" in the 1970s in order to raise funds.
The panda, which has gone herbivorous, eats a type of food that isn't nutritious and is susceptible to various diseases, had "run out of time", he said.
"So maybe if we took all the cash we spend on pandas and just bought rainforests with it, we might be doing a better job.
"I'm not trying to play God; I'm playing God's accountant," said Peckham in comments that were criticised by campaigners, including the WWF, which has long used the panda as its symbol.
