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Quake Carnage Spares Pandas

Disaster may threaten animals' food source

By M. Morris,  Newser Staff

Posted May 13, 2008 4:27 PM CDT
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(Newser) – The residents of the panda preserves deep in the earthquake-ravaged area of China are OK, state media reported today. Keepers of the 86 bears at the Wolong facility, in Sichuan province, and the 60-plus animals at the nearby Chengdu center now must worry about infrastructure damage interrupting the pandas' food supply, CNN reports; the endangered bears eat mostly bamboo.

"We are terribly concerned and we are hoping the report is true," the director of a US-based group that helps support the Wolong center told the AP. "I am waiting for confirmation that someone has actually made it to Wolong."

Giant pandas play at the Wolong Giant Panda Protection Center in China's Sichuan province in this 2006 file photo. The pandas at the Wolong and Chengdu reserves survived yesterday's earthquake.
Giant pandas play at the Wolong Giant Panda Protection Center in China's Sichuan province in this 2006 file photo. The pandas at the Wolong and Chengdu reserves survived yesterday's earthquake.   (AP Photo/Color China Photo, File)
Three of eight pandas chosen for an Olympic exhibition tour to Beijing play at the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong, in southwest China's Sichuan province, April 1, 2008.
Three of eight pandas chosen for an Olympic exhibition tour to Beijing play at the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong, in southwest China's Sichuan province, April 1, 2008.   (AP Photo/Color China Photo)
A giant panda eats bamboo at Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base in Sichuan province, China, in this Jan. 25. 2006 file photo. Researchers at the giant panda reserve are looking for paper mills to process their surplus of fiber-rich panda excrement into high quality paper. A researcher at the facility...
A giant panda eats bamboo at Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base in Sichuan province, China, in this Jan. 25. 2006 file photo. Researchers at the giant panda reserve are looking for paper mills to process...   (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel, File)
Spanish Queen Sofia hugs a panda during a photo op at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Center in Chengdu, China's Sichuan province, June 29, 2007. The Chengdu pandas survived yesterday's earthquake.
Spanish Queen Sofia hugs a panda during a photo op at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Center in Chengdu, China's Sichuan province, June 29, 2007. The Chengdu pandas survived yesterday's earthquake.   (AP Photo/Color China Photo)
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Group of British panda lovers missing in China
Times (UK)

Panda tourism, panda diplomacy crucial for China
AFP

State media's take on the situation
Xinhua (China)

 
China • panda • earthquake • Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center • Wolong Giant Panda Reserve Center • China earthquake

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