First, to Scotland...
PLANS to move a breeding pair of giant pandas to Scotland have attracted criticism from animal rights campaigners and a small band of politicians.
The attraction is owned by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which also runs Edinburgh Zoo which is set to become home to the pandas.
However, Green MSP Robin Harper has tabled a motion at the Scottish Parliament and Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock took a similar step at Westminster calling for the plan to be scrapped.
They believe the money saved to be used to protect the animals' native habitat in the bamboo forests of China.
Then, to Japan....
Animal rights activists on Wednesday urged Japan to reject visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao's offer of two pandas, saying the crowd-pleasing animals would be miserable in a zoo.
Hu, trying to reconcile with Japan on the first visit by a Chinese president to Tokyo in a decade, offered to lend a male and a female panda to replace Ling Ling, who died last week at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sent a letter to Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura urging Japan to halt the deal.
What is a totalitarian government to do to earn some love?
Photo by Renee Weppner.
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