Pandas will cost £8m to conserve

They’re the first giant pandas to live in the UK for 17 years, but housing Sweetie and Sunshine comes at a whopping cost.

China has been leasing pandas to other countries as ‘gifts’ for years but this generosity comes at a price, with the burden of paying for the continuous conservation of the animals shifted from China to their new homes.

Edinburgh Zoo has apparently already forked out £250,000 on a nifty enclosure for new furry residents – originally named Tian Tian and Yang Guang. Their new abode includes a pool, a cave and has been specially kitted out with bullet-proof glass.

[Related story: Giant pandas flown into UK]

But the costs don’t end there, with reports that the pandas will cost a total of £640,000 a year and over the next 10 years (the period they are on loan to the UK), with the total bill to the Scottish zoo put at almost £8 million.

Food won’t come cheap either - pandas eat for up to 14 hours a day, consuming up to 38 kg of food each, according to the WWF. Which means this pair will get through a stunning £70,000 in bamboo a year. And if the female and male pandas have a baby it could add another few hundred thousand pounds to the overall bill.

All this cost has led to a debate among experts.

Last month, a survey of 600 scientists recommended that we should give up upon trying to save the species because they are too expensive and the money should be spent on animals with a better survival chance.

David Thomas, writing in ‘The Independent’ said that from a conservation perspective, pandas are “the world’s most useless creatures”.

“That these ‘WAGs of the animal kingdom’ have become a symbol of global wildlife preservation only illustrates the way in which conservation so often appeals to the kitten-cuddling nitwits who pretend to love animals,” he wrote.

English TV naturalist, Chris Packham, said back in 2009 that: “The panda is possibly one of the grossest wastes of conservation money in the last half century.”

But with the arrival of the new furry attractions, reports suggest the  zoo could make money as online footage from four "pandacams" hidden in their enclosures is expected to attract visitors from around the world.

On Monday, the Scottish ‘Daily Record’ reported that the pandas had already triggered a surge in ticket sales, causing Edinburgh zoo's computers to crash last week.