Characteristics that make trophy hunting of giant pandas inconceivable

In November, 1928, Theodore Jr. and Kermit Roosevelt led an expedition to China with the expressed purpose of killing "The Golden Fleece" - the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). The expedition lasted eight months and resulted in the brothers shooting a giant panda in the mountains of Sichuan Province. Given the concurrent media attention describing this celebrated expedition, the giant panda was poised to be trophy hunted much like any number of other large mammals around the world. Today however, the killing of giant pandas, even in the name of conservation, is unthinkable. Here, we explore why. We demonstrate that trophy hunting of giant pandas is not societally palatable because of a variety of complex reasons, concerning both the species itself and the context, in time and space, in which the species was popularized in the West. These reasons include the species symbolic status within conservation biology, exceptional charisma and gentle disposition, rarity, value as a non-consumptive ecotourism attraction, and country endemism. We discuss the implications for giant panda conservation and explore whether these intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics are applicable to other large mammals that are presently trophy hunted. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.