Chinese whispers

When a giant panda came down with colic, Edinburgh Zoo issued statements suggesting this was no more than a minor tummy upset.

Now we learn that one of the animals had to be anaesthetised and given an invasive internal examination and an ultrasound (your report, 27 March). The use of general anaesthesia in large, exotic and very expensive mammals is not undertaken lightly.

Edinburgh Zoo has made good use of the media to milk every bit of publicity from the long campaign to obtain the pandas, their over-hyped arrival in Scotland and every subsequent little publicity puff it has been able to dream up over the past two months. However, when a real news story occurred about the health of one of the bears, the zoo issued bland and greatly censored statements about what was happening.

Obviously when you pay the Chinese government a huge amount of money a year you get more for your money than a brace of giant pandas. They come with a course of lessons in the Chinese art of freedom of misinformation.

John F Robins

Animal Concern Advice Line

Dunbarton