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The drought in central China's Hubei Province has forced the Wuhan City zoo to find alternate sources of fresh bamboo for 22-year-old Qing Qing, the 'heroic mother' of 13 panda cubs.

Because of the dry weather, the zoo's own 7,000-sq-m bamboo grove has not been able to keep pace with Qing Qing's appetite. "Qing Qing eats about 50 kg of bamboo leaves and stalks a day and seldom touches other foods such as eggs or milk," said zoo keeper Gu Zhiqiang.

 

 
Giant panda Qing Qing enjoys bamboo in the Wuhan Zoo in central China's Hubei Province on Tuesday, February 06, 2007. Although having hit the old age of 22, Qing Qing has an extremely good appetite, consuming 50 kilograms of bamboo every day. 

 

"We found the available bamboo supply (from the zoo's plot) would only last for another month, so we had to appeal to the society for help. It is expected the new bamboo shoots (from the zoo's plot) will be able to meet the panda's needs by late April or early May," said Gu.

 

In late January, the zoo approached the local media with its bamboo dilemma and search for new bamboo sources and donations to cover the expense.

 

"We intended to improve awareness of wildlife protection, especially giant pandas, and hopefully to get some donations to finance the cost of securing the extra bamboo supply," said Fu Hanming with the publicity section of Wuhan City Zoo.

 

While information on new growths of bamboo poured, the cash didn't.

 

A 56-year-old man, identified only by his surname Lu, phoned saying he knew of large bamboo grove at north side of Mount Guishan. He even sent samples for Qing Qing to try out.

 

"Giant pandas are our national treasure, so everyone should give a helping hand in this situation," said Lu.

 

On learning the giant panda's plight, Wuhan Botanical Garden offered up 200 kg of bamboo for Qing Qing.

 

The zoo finally made a deal with Zhuhu Chenyi Nursery Co. Ltd. on supplies of 100kg of bamboo every other day. It charges five yuan a kilogram, which costs the zoo 250 yuan a day to feed Qing Qing.

 

Unfortunately, the zoo has to bear the entire cost as it didn't receive any cash donations following the newspaper's article in January.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 9, 2007)