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Tai Shan is 'Mr. Cool'

 

U.S. Zoos help Wolong Panda Base

Smithsonian National Zoo  has now organized a relief fund to help the Wolong Center for Giant Pandas.  Both adult pandas at the National Zoo, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are from Wolong.  The San Diego Zoo had set up their relief fund last week. 

Pandas International who had sent supplies to the area just got word through a satellite phone, that the needed items they shipped finally arrived. The supplies had to be moved from Chengdu to Wolong. The trek involved truck drivers navigating for 16 hours over damaged dirt roads, constantly maneuvering around rock slides, huge boulders non existent road shoulders with sheer drops to the narrow valley's below. 

The news from China is not getting any better.  The after shocks that keep reoccurring are  keeping food, medical and other supplies from getting to areas that desperately need them, along with rain, causing mud slides.

Last word from Wolong is that they are going to have to relocate the Wolong base to another area.  No details have come from this statement as to where they will move to or when they plan on doing this.  They realized with the extensive damage that has taken place, any rebuilding at that location would be senseless because of their proximity of approximately 20 miles from the fault where the 8.0 earthquake originated.

World Wildlife Fund

The World Wildlife Fund who actively works in China on a regular basis with offices in Chengdu, has been providing great help during this crisis. 

They have been helping the providing satellite phones to nature reserves in Sichuan.  If you remember, this was the only way any kind of communication came out from the region for the first few days, and probably is still the same in some areas.  Their Chengdu office donated six tons of rice to the Wolong Nature Reserve, with tents and other necessities sent to reserves in Mao County, Pingwu, Quigchuan and Beichuan.  The Xi'an office has sent tents, candles, generators and protective clothing to Quinqmuchaun Nature Reserve.

WWF- China Country Representative Dermot O'Gorman says, "WWF will provide full support to our local partners’ relief efforts. Once the conditions have stabilized, we will cooperate with forestry administrations and nature reserves to carry out impact assessment about the local communities, the wild pandas and their habitats, the nature reserves and the ecosystems for further protection,”.

Other Panda Reserves

Even though most of the coverage has been focused on the Wolong Center, Xinhua writer, Gong Yidong also reports that almost all of the 20 reserves for wild pandas at the Minshan Mountains in Sichuan were badly damaged in the quake, according to the Sichuan provincial forestry bureau.

China has 1,590 pandas living in the wild, 75 percent of them are in Sichuan, 17 percent in Shaanxi and 7 percent in Gansu.  So lets try to get a perspective on all of this by making use of some maps that the World Wildlife Fund has put together.  Be sure to click on the maps so you can see more clearly the information the WWF has provided.

 

First we have an overall map of China, showing key cities and their relationship to the pandas.  The purple area shows provinces with some corridors enabling the pandas to move between areas that have separated them due to population growth, highways, industry and so on.  The orange is the actual area that pandas live.  I added Wolong to the map so you could see where it sits.

With this map we can get a closer look at the region. Here you can better see how small an area the pandas have been confined to and the mountain ranges they live in.

   Now we can zoom in even more, in order to see the area of the Minshan mountains that were mentioned by the Sichuan Provincial Forestry Bureau. 

Logging was a major industry in this region and through the help of the WWF, in trying to find alternative ways of utilizing the land, perhaps it will benefit the pandas in the long run.

You can also see with this map, what a major undertaking it is to provide the best corridors for the pandas.

  The last map is of the Quinling Mountain area.  It lies much further north of Manshan as you can see by the insert.

As you look over the maps, you will notice how the pandas habitat has been squeezed up into the mountain areas, especially here in Quinling.

When you see maps like these and try to visualize the mountains and ask the question... population?  What population could they be talking about?   Well, the city of Chengdu is the provincial capital of Sichuan and has significant cultural and historic importance to China.  More about that some other time.  Here are some photos of Chengdu, what looks to be a beautiful and modern city.  These photos were found on the Cultural-China website.

Mountainous work ahead for panda researchers

 

The hard, arduous task of picking up the pieces and creating a future for all involved in the wake of the earthquake has begun.  One of the two missing adult pandas, Xi Xi, from the Wolong Center was discovered nearby over the weekend and has been successfully rescued and brought back to the center.  Xi Xi was seen alongside the Pitiao River that runs through the Wolong Reserve by road workers, trying to repair the damage from the landslides. This was reported on the China View website 

Here is a photo taken years ago of the Wolong Center with the Pitiao River running along side it. 

The Giant Pandas all reacted as any of us would during a crisis.  As reported on by Xinhua writer, Gong Yidong today, panda keeper Gao Qiang still shivers when recollecting how the pandas survived the quake.  "Before we realized what was going on, a whole mountain had collapsed and rumbled, like a cyclone of huge rocks. The pandas were roaring with horror I never heard before."  Instinctively, the adult pandas scattered everywhere, climbing trees or other areas they felt would be safer.  Because of their massive sizes, if the adults were too upset to be coaxed back to the center, they were anesthesized and carried back in cages. 

Two pandas were injured and I have not seen or heard of their condition as of yet.  Six other adults were missing right after the earthquake, four returned on their own, Xi Xi was just found, leaving still one missing.  Mua Mua is the name of the adult still missing.

The conditions in Wolong only have gotten worse with the still recurring after shocks.  So they are considering moving more pandas to other safe habitats.  14 of the 32 panda shelters were destroyed.  Keepers tried desperately to comb the mountainside to gather bamboo for the pandas despite the risk of landslides or mudslides.  The Centers food reserves  which is mostly comprised of fresh bamboo gathered daily, lasted only two days, and so the pandas were living on rice porridge for days.  State Forestry Administration is helping with emergency shipments of bamboo and other food.

Pulling together to help Wolong Panda Base

With the recent May 12 earthquake that shattered SW China, all of the panda reserve centers are working day and night to ensure the long-term safety of their pandas.  The China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center at Wolong, was a mere 12 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake and is continuing to feel aftershocks.  With most all of its structures severely damaged, they have had to move many of their pandas to other locations, that can better provide shelter and food for these gentle giants.  Chengdu and Bifenxia bases are assisting in different ways.

The first to be rescued were the one year olds.  Although I always thought the cubbies were inside the Wolong center,according to Karen Rose, Chair of Pandas International: "The cubs are in a park in front of the Administration building inside the town of Wolong. They are not at the reserve.  They were carried across the river further away from the rockslides to a safer location.  Here the staff are
better able to care for them and provide them with the regular feedings that these young cubs will need since they had not too long ago been weaned from their mothers. 

  A group of eight pandas were escorted and moved to Chengdu to await a flight to Beijing.  These two year olds, had been selected earlier in the year by the netizens to go to Beijing Zoo for the duration of the Olympics.  This trip was in the works at the time along with parade and great fanfare was to accompany them, but was canceled due to the devastation.  They arrived safely at their new enclosures at the Beijing Zoo, Saturday, the 24th.  All were accompanied by their long-time keepers, veterinarians and other staff, who will stay with them. 

  Besides the structures that housed the pandas and staff being destroyed, food supplies are scarce.  Much of the favored bamboo that the pandas eat the most of, was harvested daily from the countryside.  Many families who helped in harvesting the bamboo are having their own difficulties after the earthquake and much of the area where the bamboo grows is inaccessible.  Six other pandas were transported by truck to the Bifenxia Base in Ya'an.

The Sichaun provincial forestry bureau, has reported that two pandas were injured and six disappeared after the earthquake out of the 86 that were at Wolong.  Four of the lost pandas did find their way back to the base, shortly after.  One of the pandas, XiXi, was just spotted along the riverside, by road crews working to repair the roadway. A crane was dispatched to help lower Wolong staff down into the river to rescue the panda, but was unable to reach far enough across the river to set them down safely.  They say he looked fine, and will continue to find a way to rescue him.  That leaves only one that is still unaccounted for. 

As for the wild pandas, it is too early to surmise how they made out.  An interesting note concerning the wild pandas.  Unlike previous years, the Michigan State University was unsuccessful in being able to trap any wild pandas this year to place radio collars on them for research in tracking the pandas.  Could it be that they moved out of this area because they had a sense of danger? 

Update of Graduate Students at Wolong

I didn't want to forget about the graduate students from Michigan State University who are working along with the Wolong Reserve on their studies of the Giant Panda. 

Vanessa, who was featured here on Starting Young is back in Michigan but three other students are still at Wolong.  After much anticipation, the university received a brief satellite phone call letting them know all of the students were safe.  The facilities they were staying in suffered serious damage and are currently staying in a tent.

Here is the most recent article from their website.  The photos of their current conditions tell the story. Reports from Wolong bring stories of challenges

Earthquake hits Panda Reserves Hard

Due to the tremendously steep-mountainous nature of SW China, finding any information on how those people who have dedicated their lives to the Giant Pandas in this region has been difficult.  But stories are coming out. Heroic, daring feats by people helping each other overcoming the odds against them during this difficult time. 

According to a report published on Xinhuanet, China's Forestry Bureau has announced that five staff at Sichuan Province's Wolong Nature Reserve died as a result of the earthquake that took place on May 12.  Out of the 63 pandas that are housed at that location three are missing. 

Here is a collection of photos taken shortly after the earthquake from another website.  Here you will see photos of this years panda cubs being rescued, taken across the river to a small building for their survival.  Because the cubs had not been completely weaned, it was a priority to get them into a safer location so they could be fed to ensure their survival. At the bottom of the first photo you will see numbers to click for more photos.  China News.

Pandas International is actively involved in the recovery and assistance effort.  If you can find a  way to help, it would be greatly appreciated.   To make a tax-deductible donation, please send checks payable to Pandas International at P.O. Box 620335, Littleton, Colorado  80162.  You can also view updates from the effort and donate online at Pandas International