Restaurant operator held over stuffed panda trade in Tokyo

Reports dubbed the animal as an 80% real giant panda because its head and ears appeared to belong to another animal—possibly another type of bear.

Pictures please - the mind boggles...

@ schadfield It is all over the news today, check out channel 4 for stories and pictures of it. The Panda looks like a Panda :).

Here's a picture of the stuffed panda.

http://image.search.yahoo.co.jp/search?ei=UTF-8&fr=top_ga1_sa&p=%E5%81%BD%E7%89%A9%E3%83%91%E3%83%B3%E3%83%80%E5%89%A5%E8%A3%BD

with some 300 others in captivity.

Would a panda like this be recorded as 'one in captivity?' Or would it be 300.8 in captivity?

I really don't get it. It's fake, right? A stuffed animal. He's not saying it's real.

This article is atrocious. I can't tell if it's been proven that he's selling stuffed quasi-pandas or whether he's just been successful in duping people with a cleverly done fake. Getting a quick DNA test done on a fur sample, something apparently beyond the Japanese National Police, would answer the question.

Photo here - http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/man-held-over-stuffed-panda-trade-in-tokyo-20111212-1org1.html

The head at least is obviously not a panda, the snout is too long and the neck is just not right. Pretty gruesome object, like all taxidermy victims.

@NetNinja: He claimed it was 80% real giant panda, so it's still a panda by majority of fur or skin parts :D

The more important question is: was the stuffed animal brought into Japan by the seller? If so, how did it pass through Immigration and Customs? If not, could there be more of these somewhere?

Where the hell did he manage to get it in the first place?

@Elvensilvan

He obviously wore the fur coat here last winter, but had a problem with the head not looking like a hood.

SO he went to Amazon.com to the sexy outfit store and got a head and some ears. Maybe it came with stockings too.

Wow! I don't get it! If you have been to one of the many exotic pet shops in Tokyo you see hundreds of protected and endangered species for sale, including many Australian reptiles and marsupials. I guess this guy didn't slip the brown paper bag to the right authority.

@Gurukun

Would a panda like this be recorded as 'one in captivity?' Or would it be 300.8 in captivity?

My guess is that this 80% stuffed 100% dead panda would not be recorded as being in captivity at all.

Japanese law protects the trade in endangered animals

too late.. its already dead.

should we understand that the chef's specialty in his restaurant was panda steak? If not, how do you end up with a stuffed panda? rob Ueno zoo?

timeon: that's what I would like to know too, so I did some reasearch:

According to Yomiuri:

The mounted panda--which had real fur on its body except for its face, which had rabbit fur on it--was believed to have been originally owned by a Chinese national who lived in Miyagi Prefecture before returning to China following the Great East Japan Earthquake. Shang allegedly obtained the animal through a third party, according to police.

But it's still unclear as to how the panda's fur came through customs ... well, I could believe MaboDofuIsSpicy's version. >:D

Yes, it would be nice to have a few PICTURES!!

Gruesome. Fake animals look real enough, but "real" fake animals? This is so wrong. And, what the? There was a pet panda in Miyagi? Where was kept? In the Chinese national's apaato? This story is as lacking in needed content as the head of that alleged bear!

I would like to know who turned him in. Was it the tourists or undercover cops? All i get from the article is the most of the panda is real and the guy was trying to sell it.

Thanks, Cleo. It looks they put panda skin on the frame of a brown bear (higuma).

Imagine trying to get the bloody thing through customs. This would be entrepreneur clearly didn't think things through. "What's that in your luggage, sir?" "Oh that- it's nothing - just a panda."

He obviously did it somewhat. Reports also said that some of the fur came from rabbits. Also contrary to common belief taxidermy is different from stuffing an animal.

Usually only the skin and fur is preserved and put over a carved shape that represents the actual living animal. Takes quiet a bit of skill to carve/shape it. Organic bits tend to rot fast.

No indication that the display was created overseas or locally.

An acquaintance was asked by a zoo in Japan some years ago to come and stuff their dead panda. (True story) Well, he and the people he was with did the job, but they didn't know how to dispose of the body, so, you guessed it...

The moral of the story is that pandas in captivity die, and something has to be done, but what, without offending anyone's sensibilities, especially when certain countries are involved?

Other parts were served as meals?

Just curious to know where the remaining 20% went... as he could have fooled people in thinking it was beef..

On Tokudane the other morning they showed the 'Frankenpanda'.... It was way too big to be anything like a real panda...the head was made of god knows what, but the black patches around the eyes were dyed. Components of the Frankenpanda also include rabbit skin, cat skin, and god knows what else until we call in CSI! People who like collecting stuffed animals and wearing furs are truly sick!