The pandas need to eat 10 branches of bamboo a day

Bristol Zoo Gardens needs greenfingered animal fans to help grow the bamboo which its one-year-old panda cubs, Tenzing and Babu, feed on.

The bears and their parents need to eat 10 branches of bamboo each day, but the zoo's horticultural department cannot keep up with the demand.

Now it is asking the city's gardeners to satisfy the animals' appetites by donating their bamboo harvests.

Conservation programme

Caroline Brown, senior keeper at the zoo, said: "We cannot supply enough bamboo from the zoo gardens to keep up with the red pandas' voracious appetites.

"If anyone can help by supplying us with fresh bamboo on a regular basis we would be very grateful."

Tenzing and Babu were born at the zoo as part of a conservation breeding programme.

Red pandas are endangered in the wild because much of their habitat and food supply has been destroyed by human activity. The animals are also hunted by poachers in their native China.