SOME of the animals at Doonies Farm in Aberdeen are even rarer than pandas.
There are only 1,600 endangered giant pandas left in the world, says the Worldwide Wildlife Fund.
But many animals at the city’s rare breeds farm are in even shorter supply.
The farm’s two Eriskay ponies are among only 300 in Britain – making them a critically endangered species.
The female foal, Spirit, lives at the Nigg farm with her mum Rhona who came to Aberdeen from Kent six years ago.
The Rare Breeds Survival Trust’s head of conservation, Dawn Teverson, said: “There are only 57 breeding female Eriskays on the UK mainland, and there were only seven female foals born in 2007.
“You can’t leave a rare breed to get down to one male and one female. If you do that you start getting problems and quite often you can’t get them to breed.”
And the two horses are not the only examples of endangered species at the farm. It has some of the country’s 300 Large Black and Tamworth pigs left in the country, classing them as vulnerable breeds.
And among the rare British sheep at the farm, the Castlemilk Moorit and Whitefaced Woodland breeds, are some of just 900 remaining in the UK.
Friends of Doonies chairman John Sleigh said: “We are all very committed to saving these extremely rare animals.
The farm is currently being run by volunteers and funded by donations after its Aberdeen City Council funding was axed amid a string of budget cuts last year.
The group, who are fundraising and campaigning to save the farm, are to meet council officials later this week to decide the fate of the farm.
ktaylor@ajl.co.uk