Zhang Hemin, director of the Wolong Nature Reserve, was speaking to an audience of 200 students in Hong Kong, at the invitation of the Hong Kong Ocean Park Conservation Foundation (OPCEHK) which has donated 2.6 million Hong Kong dollars to help rebuild the Wolong base.

Zhang Hemin, director of the Wolong Nature Reserve, said last week that it would take a long time for pandas to recover from the shock of the May 12 earthquake. But he promised to rebuild the reserve within three years.

The rebuilt reserve will have two research bases and a disease control center. But Zhang said the priority now is to get short-term help to the pandas. Left to themselves many will die of disease in the severe winter. "The bamboo forests at low altitude were damaged and pandas will have to climb to high altitudes to find food. They have enough to eat, but there will be long-term effects on their reproductive cycle," said Zhang.

The Wolong panda base was almost completely destroyed in the earthquake. Hundreds of artificial-bred pandas were relocated, but there are around 150 wild pandas still on the reserve.

Zhang said pandas were just as besieged by anxiety and fear after the earthquake as humans. They often sat together to comfort each other. Some even moved very carefully for fear that heavy footfalls would cause another quake. "It will take a long time for them to recover mentally," said Zhang.

Zhang was speaking to an audience of 200 students in Hong Kong, at the invitation of the Hong Kong Ocean Park Conservation Foundation (OPCEHK) which has donated 2.6 million Hong Kong dollars to help rebuild the Wolong base. OPCEHK Chairperson, Ms. Judy Chen, told the meeting that another 20 million HK dollars will be raised in next five years.

The May 12 earthquake damaged 27 panda reserves. More than 1000 wild pandas were affected, 85 percent of the Sichuan panda population. One panda reared at Wolong was killed, another was injured, and a third is missing.

Because of the threat of further earthquakes and landslides, the research center will not be rebuilt on its original site of Hetaoping. The proposed new site, also inside the Wolong Nature Reserve, has been surveyed and judged safe by three groups of seismologists.

(China.org.cn by Huang Shan, December 15, 2008)