Cloning Giant Pandas Would be Harmful, ExpertsThe cloning of giant pandas, an endangered animal species, would have no benefits for the protection of the rare creatures, said a group of Chinese experts.These experts, who have been engaged in the research on the protection of the rare animals over a long period of time, said the cloning would be harmful to the protection of the giant pandas. "Cloning is just simply a reproduction of a single animal and would not help to preserve the animal species," said Yu Jianqiu, deputy director of the Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province. Because, Yu said, genetic diversity is very important for animals to survive and continue to increase in number. He said, at present, the technology used to clone the giant pandas is far from serving the purpose of protecting the rare creatures. Professor Feng Wenhe with the Sichuan University and other experts at the Chengdu-based giant panda breeding base said they are very worried about the rampant reports of the cloned sheep Dolly and about the cloning of giant pandas. They said such reports have misled the general public in the protection of the rare animals. Now that the scientists can clone the giant pandas, "Do these endangered animals need protection?" and "Does their habitat need protection?" many people asked. Professor Feng said research on the cloning of the giant pandas is tolerable, but it is not necessary to spend huge amounts of money to clone the rare creatures. The experts pointed out that the problems that threaten the protection of the rare animals are that the forest is damaged, the habitats of pandas have shrunk and been damaged by human activities and poaching of the animals still exists. To solve these problems it will require a lot of money, they said. China now has some 1,000 giant pandas in the wild. |
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