Pandamonium: Wildlife Law

Abstract

‘To watch a panda in action — waddling, somersaulting, munching bamboo sprouts and heaving the occasional sigh — is to watch a child’s stuffed animal come miraculously to life’, pudgy, plushy, with eyes like teardrops.¹ The panda, in many ways, is an icon of China and also a symbol of the disappearing animal species in China and around the world. Ironically, the panda also symbolizes both the effectiveness and failure of China’s wildlife protection regulatory system. If only all wildlife in China could be as exotic looking and photogenic as the panda. If only the Chinese government could give a fraction of the attention and resources that pandas attract to many other animal species in China.