China's wild panda population rebounds

Δημοσιεύθηκε: 28 Φεβρουαρίου 2015 - 16:58

China's wild panda population has rebounded thanks to intensive conservation efforts and a decline in poaching, but the national fervour for building hydropower dams and roads still poses a severe threat to the endangered animal's survival, according to a once-in-a-decade survey released this weekend.

The recovery is a rare victory for wildlife conservation after a steep drop in panda population in the 1980s galvanised efforts to save the species.

The number of wild pandas rose to 1,864 by the end of 2014, up from 1,596 at the end of 2003, the State Forestry Administration said. Meanwhile, the number of pandas in captivity doubled to 376, as Chinese zoologists become increasingly successful in breeding the rare animals.

Pandas live in the remote, bamboo-covered mountain slopes of southwest China, primarily in Sichuan Province. China has poured money into establishing refugees and captive breeding programs for the animals which have become a symbol of the nation.

But economic development and especially the drive to dam southwest China's steep river valleys threatens their habitat and ultimately their survival. Mining and even tourism development pose additional threats.

"The conflict between the preservation of giant pandas and their habitat with local economic and social development is very obvious, and the conservation situation is serious," Chen Fengxue, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration, told reporters on Saturday in Beijing.

Zhang Xiwu, director of the State Forestry Administration's wild animal and natural reserves bureau, said the panda population is divided among 33 discontinuous areas in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, of which 18 hold fewer than 10 individuals and therefore face the likelihood of local extinction. Another four areas have fewer than 30 pandas.

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While China's efforts to set up large reserves in panda habitats has helped numbers recover, efforts to release captive pandas back into the wild have been less successful. Only three have been released and lived. The first ever captive panda to be released, in 2006, died within a year after a fight with wild pandas. "Xue Xue", a panda born of captive parents and released last fall was dead by the end of the year while "Xin Lang" died of respiratory and renal failure in the enclosure in which she was being trained just before her planned release in November. Mr Zhang said the deaths reflect the bigger problem of loss of habitat.

China's captive panda program came under fire this winter, when canine distemper killed four pandas at a facility in Shaanxi province, one of the three main bases for captive pandas. Chinese media reported that overcrowding due to the rise in the number of pandas in captivity has raised the risk of infectious disease.

The base was also criticised for using the pandas as a tourist attraction.

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