Eats Shoots and Dies

BBC naturalist Chris Packham reckons it's time we took a cold, hard look at reality and just let all the pandas die already. The adorable endangered species enjoys millions of dollars every year in money spent trying to save it from extinction. But Packham says the cuddly animals are on an "evolutionary cul-de-sac" and saving them is a wasted effort. Spend the money on more hopeful causes, he says, and "let [the panda] go, with a degree of dignity..." He's right that pandas have traded their dignity for protection. The annual Steampunk Panda Parade I hold in my back yard is proof enough of that. (Though they look so cute in their goggles and top hats.) But I wonder if there's not a more sinister motive for Packham's grim outlook. After all, he said the same thing about tigers, arguing that it's useless to try and save an animal that's worth more dead than alive. Does he believe the same is true of pandas? And does this have anything to do with a company I just made up called Packham's Panda Parts, Inc.? Only time and research will tell. More details here.