FEARS HELD FOR PANDAS

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33433, 15 January 1974, Page 12

FEARS HELD FOR PANDAS

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) NEW YORK, Jan. 14. Pandas are in danger of becoming extinct in their native habitat in southwestern China, the “Newsweek” says. "Pandas, the rare, bearlike animals, that have become symbols of Peking’s new diplomacy, are apparently in danger in their native habitat, Szechwan, where the authorities have been ordered by the Chinese Government to draw up a three-year plan for the active protection and rational use of rare animal resources, including pandas,” the magazine reports. "The provincial government, in turn, is cracking down on poachers, and has raised the price it pays for captured animals. “Peking has presented pairs of pandas to President Nixon and other world leaders, and Western zoos are waiting anxiously to see if the animals will breed in captivity—a feat accomplished so far only in China i itself.”