'Adopted quake pandas' to return home

CHENGDU - More than 60 giant pandas that were "adopted" by different zoos after a devastating earthquake destroyed their Wolong-reserve home in Southwest China four years ago are expected to start returning home in September this year.

"The construction of a new panda breeding center will be completed in September. Then, those pandas living in other places will be able to come back home in batches," Zhang Hemin, director of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong, told Xinhua Sunday.

The 8.0-magnitude quake struck Sichuan province, where Wolong reserve is located, and neighboring areas on May 12, 2008, leaving more than 80,000 people dead or missing.

Wolong reserve, the world's largest giant panda breeding center that is some 30 km away from the quake epicenter, was severely damaged in the disaster, with panda pens flattened and infrastructure ruined.

The quake left one panda dead, one injured and another missing. More than 60 pandas were left homeless.

In August 2008, half of the homeless pandas were sent to different zoos in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Wuhan and other cities, and the other half were transferred to a breeding base in Ya'an, also in Sichuan.

While pursuing higher quality in the artificial breeding of these rare bears, the new center will become more prominent in its role as a training center for pandas that will be released back into the wild after being born in the center, Zhang said.

The center will also serve as a principal public educator in the area of wildlife protection, he said.

"Returning home means not only that the pandas will come back home in Sichuan but also that the pandas raised in captivity will be released into the wild, their real home," Zhang said.

Giant pandas are among the world's most endangered species. Statistics from the State Forestry Administration show that about 1,600 pandas live in the wild, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan, while another 300 live in captivity in zoos around the world.

Zoologists believe releasing giant pandas into the wild will reduce the risk of inbreeding among the animals' wild partners.