Posted on 05/11/2009 5:09:05 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Gambolling in a toy-filled pen, pandas born after the Chinese earthquake chase each other and turn somersaults, oblivious to how many of them are lucky to be alive.
The mothers of the eight-month-old cubs were pregnant when the Sichuan earthquake shattered the mountainside reserve that had been home to China’s national symbols.
They were traumatised when the ground shook and boulders as big as cars came down the slopes, killing four keepers and one of the pandas. The last six animals were moved out of the Wolong reserve last month to a home in a similar lush gorge.
The base in Ya’an houses about 60 pandas. They will stay there until a breeding centre is built about six miles (10km) from Wolong.
RELATED LINKS China’s earthquake survivors rebuild lives Baby boom breeds hope for endangered pandas The transition has not been easy. In the first days after the earthquake the pandas would not eat or drink and loud noises terrified them. The keepers persisted in trying to soothe their charges.
“We treat them like our own children,” said one official in Ya’an. The pandas are petted and stroked to help them to adapt. “We talk to them just as if they were our family.”
Officials at the reserve were worried most about the pregnant pandas, which were vital to the survival of one of the most endangered species in the world. Only about 1,600 survive in the wild and officials worry that they may be reluctant to breed because of damage to their habitat.
Eight pandas at the reserve had cubs last year and 13 out of 14 survived.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Is this supposed to be a barf story?
Is this the earthquake that killed thousands of Chinese? And I’m supposed to give a rats a$$ about traumatized panda bears?
What the hell is endangered? Adapt or die.
My apologies.
Those bears are certainly the best looking welfare recipients I’ve ever seen.
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