Napier abandons panda plan

Napier has abandoned plans to turn Marineland into Pandaland.

Resident Max Patmoy came up with the idea of vying with Wellington and Auckland Zoos for two pandas from China after Prime Minister John Key said the Government was working on a deal to bring a pair to New Zealand.

He suggested that the pandas could be housed at the Marineland site which has been closed since the last dolphin died in 2008.

But after researching the only other panda enclosure in the Southern Hemisphere, at Adelaide Zoo he has decided the area is too small.

"I went through the annual report for the zoo and their panda sanctuary was something like three acres and had 5000 trees and pools and the rest," he told Hawke's Bay Today.

"I realised no way in the world would this fit on the Marineland site."

- NZPA