Conservationists should heed the bottom line and let giant pandas die out, by BBC presenter and naturalist Christ Packham’s calculations.

“It’s not a strong species. Unfortunately it’s big and cute and it’s a symbol of the WWF—and we pour millions of pounds into panda conservation,” he told Radio Times magazine.

Last year he was quoted as saying: “I’d eat the last panda if I could have the money we’ve spent on panda conservation back on the table for me to do more sensible things with.”

Tigers are on the chopping block, too. Packham gives them another 15 years.

“How can you conserve an animal that is worth more dead than alive? You can’t.”

Packham thinks the money spent on panda conservation would be better invested in animals that have not “gone down an evolutionary cul-de-sac,” an accusation based on the large amount of bamboo pandas must eat to sustain themselves in a delicate habitat.

Rainforests, environments with a diverse range of flora and fauna, would also be a better use of conservation dollars, Packham said.

What’s more, the wildlife photographer thinks panda breeding programs—about 200 are being bred in captivity—are pointless without a natural habitat to release them to. Threatened by logging, agriculture and China’s growing population, the remaining 1,600 giant pandas have been confined to mountain forest areas in the southwest. Many panda populations are isolated to narrow belts of bamboo no more than 1.2 kilometers wide, according to the WWF, which has been championing panda conservation since 1980.

Dr. Mark Wright, a conservation adviser for WWF, didn’t agree with Packham’s recommendation.

“It is a daft thing for Christ to say, and an irresponsible one,” he said. “Pandas have adapted to where they live. They live in the mountains where there is plenty of the bamboo they want to eat.”

On his Web site, Packham is adamant, advocating we give up the cuddly creature he’s dubbed a “T-shirt animal”—the panda has been the WWF’s symbol since its foundation in 1961—and “think of a much bigger picture.”

That’s not to say he’s relishing the panda’s demise. Asked which animal he wouldn’t mind becoming extinct, Packham said: “Human beings. No question. That’s the only one.”

Feature photo courtesy flickrfavorites’ photostream/ Creative Commons