CHENGDU, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese giant panda breeding center on Monday kicked off a campaign to recruit three foreign volunteers to raise global awareness about the animal as well as other endangered species.

The volunteers, dubbed the Chengdu Giant Panda Guardian Ambassadors, will receive training from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and carry out international exchanges to raise awareness on endangered animal protection.

The program, jointly conducted by the research center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, U.S.-based non-governmental organization Wild Aid and the Yao Ming Foundation, is the extension and upgraded version of a similar campaign carried out two years ago.

In 2010, the center recruited six volunteers from over 60,000 applicants in 52 countries to raise awareness on the artificial breeding and protection of giant pandas.8 Over the past six decades, the Chengdu breeding center has successfully bred 170 giant panda cubs, bringing the total number of the animals living in captivity to 328 by the end of 2011, according to the center. Enditem