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September 22, 2008
China tries to restore panda program
CHENGDU, CHINA — Months after an earthquake devastated south-central China, scientists are struggling to restore the world's premier research program on the giant panda and assess the disaster's impact on pandas in the wild.
Nearly 70,000 people died in the earthquake that struck Sichuan province in May. The quake also disrupted research and breeding programs for the critically endangered panda and affected more than 80 percent of its wild habitat.
Months later, information is only beginning to filter in from field stations about the impact on hundreds of pandas living in the most heavily damaged areas.
"The situation for wild giant pandas was delicate even before the earthquake, so it's possible that the damage could threaten their long-term survival,"
Fewer than 1,600 wild pandas are thought to remain in remote sections of China.
Posted by sue at September 22, 2008 06:27 AM