Laws protecting the animals
Can't just smile through it all...
There are no specific laws to protect pandas aside from a wildlife protection law (Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife)1. However, due to intensive poaching, China has passed laws to prevent poachers from killing pandas with consequences such as death penalties, which greatly reduced panda mortality due to human forces. Other penalties include 10-year sentence and confiscation of property.1
The question I have about this is why anyone would want the fur of this charismatic and symbolic animal?
Laws protecting the habitat
Wild panda in QinLing Mountain, China where laws were passed to protect and conserve this area.
Knowing that habitat loss is the main reason for the low numbers of pandas in the wild, efforts to protect panda habitats is highly considered. Aside from general laws like the Forest Law protecting their habitats, regional laws were proposed (and passed) to protect specific panda habitats. The problem with this, as raised in another part of this site, is the economics aspect of land usage in the region. Conserved areas “earn” far less income than if the bamboo were farmed and land was used for development.2
Photo credits to Mirasha (Flickr) and Keith Marshall (Flickr)
1 China.org.cn. 2012. Laws and Regulations. Available at: http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/220061.htm. Accessed Feb. 6, 2012.
2 Kontoleon, A. and Swanson, T. 2003. The willingness to pay for property rights for the giant panda: can a charismatic species be an instrument for nature conservation? Land Economics 79(4): 483-499.