Pandas scared by quake climb trees, run away
Source: Xinhua |
April 23, 2013, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
WHILE no giant panda deaths or injuries have been reported from the 7.0-magnitude quake that jolted southwest China's Sichuan Province on Saturday, some of the rare animals native to the area were very frightened, officials said.
The Bifengxia Panda Base is 50 kilometers from the quake's epicenter in Ya'an City. At least one habitat for wild pandas has been cut off and conditions there are unknown.
Surveillance video at the panda base showed that when the quake occurred at 8:02am, the pandas were slack-jawed for a while, and then some climbed trees while others fled to other areas that seemed safer, said Heng Yi, a spokesman with the base.
"The daring ones remained calm, while the timid ones were in a state of shock," he said, adding the pandas needs extra care and even psychological therapy.
Breeders provided abundant food for the pandas to assure them "nothing is wrong," Heng said.
Breeders will play with the cubs who were scared the most to ease their tension, according to a director surnamed Wang in charge of animal management at the base.
"Breeders' close communication with the animals will help comfort the pandas," said Wang.
There are 61 giant pandas at the base, and nearly half of them were moved here from the Wolong Natural Reserve five years ago, when 8.0-magnitude earthquake devastated nearby areas.
People in Wolong also felt the quake this time, but no casualties of human beings or pandas were reported, said Zhang Hemin, chief of Wolong Natural Reserve.
Apart from Bifengxia and Wolong, Fengtongzhai Natural Reserve, located in northeastern Baoxing County and 80km away from Lushan County, devastated by Saturday's quake, is also a habitat for wild pandas. There are about 40 pandas in the reserve.
Quake-triggered landslides disrupted the roads and water supplies at the reserve, and the conditions of the pandas there are not yet known.
Zuo Guangyuan, chief of the management bureau of the Fengtongzhai reserve, said nine of the workers still had not been reached, and a team has been sent to verify the condition of the pandas.
The Bifengxia Panda Base is 50 kilometers from the quake's epicenter in Ya'an City. At least one habitat for wild pandas has been cut off and conditions there are unknown.
Surveillance video at the panda base showed that when the quake occurred at 8:02am, the pandas were slack-jawed for a while, and then some climbed trees while others fled to other areas that seemed safer, said Heng Yi, a spokesman with the base.
"The daring ones remained calm, while the timid ones were in a state of shock," he said, adding the pandas needs extra care and even psychological therapy.
Breeders provided abundant food for the pandas to assure them "nothing is wrong," Heng said.
Breeders will play with the cubs who were scared the most to ease their tension, according to a director surnamed Wang in charge of animal management at the base.
"Breeders' close communication with the animals will help comfort the pandas," said Wang.
There are 61 giant pandas at the base, and nearly half of them were moved here from the Wolong Natural Reserve five years ago, when 8.0-magnitude earthquake devastated nearby areas.
People in Wolong also felt the quake this time, but no casualties of human beings or pandas were reported, said Zhang Hemin, chief of Wolong Natural Reserve.
Apart from Bifengxia and Wolong, Fengtongzhai Natural Reserve, located in northeastern Baoxing County and 80km away from Lushan County, devastated by Saturday's quake, is also a habitat for wild pandas. There are about 40 pandas in the reserve.
Quake-triggered landslides disrupted the roads and water supplies at the reserve, and the conditions of the pandas there are not yet known.
Zuo Guangyuan, chief of the management bureau of the Fengtongzhai reserve, said nine of the workers still had not been reached, and a team has been sent to verify the condition of the pandas.
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