Extinct: How Willy the panda fell victim to the red tape poachers

But the panda collection boxes, which help the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) raise many tens of thousands of pounds to protect endangered species, have fallen victim to pen-pushing predators.

The charity is withdrawing all 400 of its distinctive black-and-white collection boxes, featuring Willy the panda, because they have been made uneconomic by new red tape.

Scroll down for more

One collector described the situation as madness.

Alison Hemming, who has had a box for 14 years at her saddlers shop in Farnham, Surrey, said it had been the highest grossing in the county, taking about £600 a year.

"It's so sad, a real shame," she said. "There was a tear in our eyes when we took Willy in for the last time."

The WWF says the boxes are no longer viable because of a code of conduct imposed by the Institute of Fundraising, the professional body for charitable fundraisers.

It now requires its members to enter into a contract with all supervisors of collection boxes, stipulating that they should empty them and count the money at set intervals and send it to head office before a set date.

Every box also has to be given a number and be fitted with anti-tampering devices, while its supervisor is supplied with a paying-in book to record and bank the money raised.

A spokeswoman for the WWF said that the code, which is binding on all IoF members, meant it was no longer worthwhile maintaining the boxes.

"The cost of the rules in time and money, combined with a drop in the amount taken by the boxes, means they are no longer viable," she said, adding that annual box collections had fallen from £27,000 to £7,000 during the past three years.

"It is sad for us to see the pandas retired from service," she said.

"We aim to withdraw them all over the next two to three months and would like to ask your readers to help us speed up the process by letting us know if any boxes are situated near them.

"Sometimes boxes are passed from one collector to another and they forget to tell us about the change.

"We are also looking for ideas about what to do with them. So far we have come up with turning them into garden furniture or selling them at auctions."

Ms Hemming said she had moved Willy into her garden. "What else was I supposed to do with him?" she asked.

"Bureaucracy has gone mad. I'm not knocking the people from the WWF – they are as upset about it as we are. We all feel very strongly about the panda."

Nigel Evans, the Tory MP for Ribble Valley who has campaigned with the WWF, said: "Willy is iconic. For some piffling bureaucrats to interfere with this is just daft.

"The Culture Secretary should slap a preservation order on the boxes. We should save the panda in more ways than one."

Other charities which use collection boxes, including the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, said they would rely on enthusiastic local volunteers to bear the bureaucratic burden and keep the income flowing.

A spokeswoman for the IoF said its code of practice contained a mixture of legal requirements imposed by the Charities Act – such as not having too many boxes in the same area and making sure boxes are properly labelled – and obligations devised by the industry, including having a witness present when boxes are emptied.