Sick panda found in wild
Source: Xinhua |
May 9, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A panda found near death in the wild three weeks ago is recuperating at a research base in southwest China's Sichuan Province, panda researchers announced yesterday.
The female panda, about 20 years old, was found in the wilderness of a nature reserve near the city of Dujiangyan on April 17, according to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. When an expert team came to the animal's rescue, they found it was in a coma. The panda was skinny and critically ill with serious dehydration and wounds, the experts said.
Rescuers took the panda to Chengdu, where it was diagnosed with pancreatitis and myocarditis. It also suffered liver damage and had become a victim of parasites. It weighed only 62 kilograms, about half of what a healthy female panda should weigh.
Now isolated from other pandas at the base out of infection fears, the panda survived solely on intravenous injections of water, vitamins, medicine and other essential nutrients during its first week in Chengdu. It took its first bite of bamboo on April 24, a sign it was getting better. After three weeks of treatment, vets said the panda was out of danger.
"But it remains under intensive care as it is still suffering malnutrition and multiple organ failures," the press release said. "Treatment also needs to continue for many days to come."
The panda is old, as the average life expectancy in the wild is around 20 years. Pandas bred in captivity, however, can live up to 30 years due to better nutrition and caring.
The female panda, about 20 years old, was found in the wilderness of a nature reserve near the city of Dujiangyan on April 17, according to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. When an expert team came to the animal's rescue, they found it was in a coma. The panda was skinny and critically ill with serious dehydration and wounds, the experts said.
Rescuers took the panda to Chengdu, where it was diagnosed with pancreatitis and myocarditis. It also suffered liver damage and had become a victim of parasites. It weighed only 62 kilograms, about half of what a healthy female panda should weigh.
Now isolated from other pandas at the base out of infection fears, the panda survived solely on intravenous injections of water, vitamins, medicine and other essential nutrients during its first week in Chengdu. It took its first bite of bamboo on April 24, a sign it was getting better. After three weeks of treatment, vets said the panda was out of danger.
"But it remains under intensive care as it is still suffering malnutrition and multiple organ failures," the press release said. "Treatment also needs to continue for many days to come."
The panda is old, as the average life expectancy in the wild is around 20 years. Pandas bred in captivity, however, can live up to 30 years due to better nutrition and caring.
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