45 pandas born at center since 2008 quake
Source: Xinhua |
May 12, 2013, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FORTY-FIVE giant pandas have been born in a center within the Wolong National Nature Reserve in southwest China's Sichuan Province in the five years since a massive earthquake wreaked havoc on the area, according to officials.
The 8.0-magnitude quake happened on May 12, 2008 and the death toll is estimated to have exceeded 80,000.
It also terrified Wolong's giant pandas and damaged their facilities, though breeding of the animals continued at the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center.
The number of births has slowed to less than 10 each year from more than a dozen before the quake, as the center has focused on the quality of each panda born, Zhang Hemin, the center's director, said before the fifth anniversary of the natural disaster.
"We seek to breed from the best pairs," explained Zhang.
The center is the world's largest giant panda breeding facility, currently housing 170 captive pandas previously living throughout the reserve, located only 10 kilometers from the epicenter of the earthquake in Wenchuan County.
Following the quake, most of the pandas and staff in the center were transferred to another breeding facility in Ya'an, some 140 kilometers from the provincial capital, Chengdu.
That facility itself fell victim to similar circumstances when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake jolted Lushan County of Ya'an on April 20 this year.
However, it remained mostly intact, with all 61 of its pandas reported safe.
Meanwhile, a new center for panda breeding and research, sponsored by the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) has been built on less rugged terrain in Huangcaoping in the Wolong reserve, with capacity to accommodate 80 captive pandas, said Li Desheng, deputy chief of the reserve.
The new center will feature 13 training zones designed to equip captive pandas for life in the wild.
Their areas range from half the size of a football pitch to one square kilometer. But while there are a limited number of pandas there at present, it will likely not be fully utilized until completion of a key road that will make remote Wolong more accessible, said Li.
The Hong Kong SAR government has also helped build a rescue and disease control center in nearby Dujiangyan City.
The 8.0-magnitude quake happened on May 12, 2008 and the death toll is estimated to have exceeded 80,000.
It also terrified Wolong's giant pandas and damaged their facilities, though breeding of the animals continued at the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center.
The number of births has slowed to less than 10 each year from more than a dozen before the quake, as the center has focused on the quality of each panda born, Zhang Hemin, the center's director, said before the fifth anniversary of the natural disaster.
"We seek to breed from the best pairs," explained Zhang.
The center is the world's largest giant panda breeding facility, currently housing 170 captive pandas previously living throughout the reserve, located only 10 kilometers from the epicenter of the earthquake in Wenchuan County.
Following the quake, most of the pandas and staff in the center were transferred to another breeding facility in Ya'an, some 140 kilometers from the provincial capital, Chengdu.
That facility itself fell victim to similar circumstances when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake jolted Lushan County of Ya'an on April 20 this year.
However, it remained mostly intact, with all 61 of its pandas reported safe.
Meanwhile, a new center for panda breeding and research, sponsored by the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) has been built on less rugged terrain in Huangcaoping in the Wolong reserve, with capacity to accommodate 80 captive pandas, said Li Desheng, deputy chief of the reserve.
The new center will feature 13 training zones designed to equip captive pandas for life in the wild.
Their areas range from half the size of a football pitch to one square kilometer. But while there are a limited number of pandas there at present, it will likely not be fully utilized until completion of a key road that will make remote Wolong more accessible, said Li.
The Hong Kong SAR government has also helped build a rescue and disease control center in nearby Dujiangyan City.
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