A thousand pandas

Press, 30 August 1980, Page 14

A thousand pandas

From “China Reconstructs”

A preliminary national survey carried on since 1974 has established that at least a thousand giant pandas now exist in China.

To protect the country’s most prized animal, the giant panda, ten special nature preserves have been set up. Eight are in Sichuan province in the southwest and two in Gansu and Shaanxi provinces in the northwest. The three key ones are in Foping (in Shaanxi), on the Baishui

River (in Gansu), and at Wolong (in Sichuan). They are administered by the Ministry of Forestry and supported by the State. The seven others are run by provincial governments, which also set up their respective administration organs. Different protective measures Ivwe been adopted to prohibit capture and hunting of giant pandas and other rare animals and to protect the natural environment for the giant pandas.

In May this year the Wolong Nature ' Preserve received the first group of fora eign scientists from the World Wildlife Fund. They were invited to China to help with the designing of a research centre for the protection of giant pandas. Sir Peter Scott was the leader of the group. He is a worldrenowned British natural scientist and painter and himself designed the emblem of the W.W.F. which features a panda.