Aid For Quaked Pandas

By Mark Steer

The Chinese authorities have moved to help 53 giant pandas in the earthquake ravaged region of Sichuan. Bamboo and other food stuffs have been airlifted into the Wolong Conservation and Research Centre, one of China's biggest panda sanctuaries.

The centre's pandas, which live just 30km from the epicentre of the 12 May earthquake, suffered 35 serious injuries requiring medical treatment. A further six escaped, but four have since returned.

The problems have been compounded by an unsurprising hesitance of people to return to the mountains to collect bamboo. So the government have dispatched 4,500 kg of bamboo, 1,050 kg of bamboo shoots and huge quantities of apples, soybean, eggs, milk powder and other food items to alleviate the problems.

Some people might argue that, with the human death toll at 50,000 and rising, and over 300,000 people injured, pandas should be the least of anyone's worries.

But when you take into account that 53 pandas comprise roughly three and a half percent of the total population left on the planet, it becomes more apparent why the government are keen to see them safeguarded.

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