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In 2009, BBC presenter Chris Packham infamously said that the panda, the cuddly teddy bear-like symbol of the world conservation movement, should be left to die.

“Let them go with a degree of dignity,” he said.

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Since the mid-1970s, zoos around the world have spent untold millions of dollars on programs to keep the panda on life support through captive breeding. Packham figured the planet would be better off if we simply pulled the plug and directed all that panda money towards something else.

But it turns out you can agree with Packham without also dooming everyone’s favourite herbivorous bear.

Photo by Handout

The panda is finally being saved, and it has almost nothing to do with the wasteful, largely pointless Chinese propaganda enterprise taking place at your local zoo.

Despite decades of captive breeding, only nine captive bred pandas have ever been released back into the wild. Of those, only four can yet be called a success.

The first, Xiang Xiang, was released in 2006 only to be swiftly killed in a fight with resident males. Xue Xue, a female, dropped dead 40 days after her 2014 release. He Sheng, a male released in early 2016, only lasted the summer before he was mauled to death by an unknown animal.