Pandas take first steps into the wild
Source: Agencies |
January 12, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
China began sending pandas bred in captivity into a protected area in southwestern Sichuan Province yesterday in an attempt to rebuild the country's depleted population of giant pandas in a natural habitat.
The first six pandas selected from 108 raised by the Chengdu Giant Panda Research Base were released for "wildlife training" in a forest area covering more than 130 hectares called Panda Valley.
Researchers hope the pandas will be weaned from dependency on humans and learn to forage, mate and fend for themselves.
Success of the project could help save the endangered giant panda. An estimated 1,600 live in the wild, their numbers dwindling from poaching and encroaching development.
Officials and panda experts were joined by retired basketball star Yao Ming to inaugurate the Panda Valley wildlife area on the outskirts of Dujiangyan City, about 60 kilometers from Chengdu, the provincial capital.
"A lot of times when we work on the development of a city or village, we should also consider the natural living environment for the giant panda. It shouldn't be that we just think of giving them food and lodging inside a house," Yao said.
The six pandas seemed tentative on their release. They later ambled about, eating bamboo in their new home, an initial 20-hectare controlled habitat.
Pandas selected for the project will be released in batches and monitored. The first six pandas range in ages from two to four and were chosen on the basis of gender and health.
Those that adapt well in the initial zone will be released into the wider controlled wilderness area.
"The main task for Panda Valley is to act as a ground for wildlife training. This is not the eventual location where the pandas will be set free in the wild," said Fei Lisong, deputy director of the Chengdu breeding base.
Fei said the pandas would initially still be cared for because of their reliance on humans for food and water, but would be eased into living independently.
Of 10 released since 1983, only two still live in the wild. Six were sent back to the center after dramatic weight loss, one was found dead and another is believed to have died.
The first six pandas selected from 108 raised by the Chengdu Giant Panda Research Base were released for "wildlife training" in a forest area covering more than 130 hectares called Panda Valley.
Researchers hope the pandas will be weaned from dependency on humans and learn to forage, mate and fend for themselves.
Success of the project could help save the endangered giant panda. An estimated 1,600 live in the wild, their numbers dwindling from poaching and encroaching development.
Officials and panda experts were joined by retired basketball star Yao Ming to inaugurate the Panda Valley wildlife area on the outskirts of Dujiangyan City, about 60 kilometers from Chengdu, the provincial capital.
"A lot of times when we work on the development of a city or village, we should also consider the natural living environment for the giant panda. It shouldn't be that we just think of giving them food and lodging inside a house," Yao said.
The six pandas seemed tentative on their release. They later ambled about, eating bamboo in their new home, an initial 20-hectare controlled habitat.
Pandas selected for the project will be released in batches and monitored. The first six pandas range in ages from two to four and were chosen on the basis of gender and health.
Those that adapt well in the initial zone will be released into the wider controlled wilderness area.
"The main task for Panda Valley is to act as a ground for wildlife training. This is not the eventual location where the pandas will be set free in the wild," said Fei Lisong, deputy director of the Chengdu breeding base.
Fei said the pandas would initially still be cared for because of their reliance on humans for food and water, but would be eased into living independently.
Of 10 released since 1983, only two still live in the wild. Six were sent back to the center after dramatic weight loss, one was found dead and another is believed to have died.
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