Thai zoo finds gold in giant pandas' dung

BANGKOK, Nov 14 (Reuters) A Thai zoo has discovered a way to utilise unwanted dung from a couple of pandas by using it to make paper for souvenirs, the country's panda project manager said today.

The zoo had improvised a traditional way of making paper from mulberry trees in the northern city of Chiang Mai by using bamboo pulp that the pair of pandas could not digest, Prasertsak Buntrakoonpoontawee said.

The pandas, who are fed chopped bamboo, excrete about 23 kg of the pulp a day, he said.

''We know that any kind of pulp can be used to make paper, so we have applied the 2,000-year techniques of making paper from mulberry tree in this rural neighbourhood to bamboo pulp from panda dung,'' Prasertsak said. The zoo had earned 300,000 baht (,200) a year from selling fans, greeting cards, key chains, book marks -- all with panda faces and made from panda excrement paper -- and dried panda dung, enough to fund the project, he said.

The project would be presented at a four-day international panda conference in Chiang Mai that started yesterday, drawing 200 wildlife and panda specialists from around the world.

The zoo would also start to separate the pair -- six-year-old male Chuang Chuang and five-year-old female Lin Hui -- in December in a bid to breed them in captivity as Chaung Chaung would be shown frank videos of how to mate, Prasertsak said.

Reuters BDP GC1354