Eight of the world’s most endangered animals are to feature in a Restoration-style programme hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald and Zoë Ball.

Tigers will vie with pandas and polar bears to determine which should get the lion’s share of the profits from telephone voting by viewers.

Just as in Reconstruction, which championed the causes of buildings in need of a spot of tender loving care, celebrities will pitch for their favourite creature to be saved.

The programme, Extinct, will be broadcast by ITV shortly before Christmas.

The animals featured in the programme are the Bengal tiger, mountain gorilla, giant panda, Asian elephant, polar bear, orang-utan, leatherback turtle and hyacinth macaw.

Programme-makers have teamed up with the WWF, which is already involved with projects to save seven of the eight endangered animals selected for small screen salvation.

Suggestions that there was an element of sick purience to the show were shrugged off amid promises that all the animals would gain from the broadcasts and not just the winning species.

Charlie Gardner of Endemol, which is making the show for ITV, said: “The programme is putting popular spin on a serious topic. It’s not something to be ashamed of.

“We are raising awareness for each of these animals. We are calling on viewers for vote for where the money raised goes to.

“But it’s not the case all the money goes to one species and the others get nothing. The winner gets 50 per cent and the rest is shared between the other seven.”

David Suchet, who is championing the giant panda and has just returned from filming in China, said: “They’re unique, extraordinary animals and the world would be the poorer without them.

WWF published a report yesterday detailing the extent of mankind’s impact on the natural world and showing that animal populations have declined by 30 per cent since 1970 around the globe.

In an effort to ensure that Extinct is “carbon neutral”, ITV has committed funds towards carbon reduction schemes to offset the effects of carbon dioxide emitted during production.

Six of the celebrity animal champions were announced yesterday. Two more will be unveiled once the final details of contracts have been agreed.

Michael Portillo will champion the hyacinth macaw in Brazil, Graeme Le Saux the mountain gorilla in Rwanda, Pauline Collins the Bengal tiger in Nepal, Anneka Rice the polar bear in Svalbard, and Sue Johnston the Asian elephant in India.

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