GIANT PANDAS WITH GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/09/content_3328101.htm

City-rover panda sent back to wild

 

www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-09 08:09:40

 

BEIJING, Aug. 9 -- Residents in Dujiangyan, SW China's Sichuan Province and

tourists from abroad gathered yesterday to see a giant panda, mistaken for a

burglar three weeks ago, released back into the wild.

 

 

Onlookers applaud as " Shengling No 1, " the female giant panda found roaming the

city of Dujiangyan in Sichuan Province three weeks ago, is released back to the

wild yesterday. She has spent the past weeks at Wolong panda research

base.(newsphoto)

Noah Anglin, an American mechanical engineer from California, got up at 4:30am

yesterday morning to be on time to take a bus from the Wolong Nature Reserve to

the Longxi-Hongkou National Natural Preserve in Dujiangyan.

 

" I'm going to watch workers from Wolong send a giant panda back to the wild.

It's very exciting, " the 67-year-old told China Daily.

 

Having been to Wolong 15 times since his first trip there in 2000, Anglin

has adopted two pandas in the reserve, worked as a volunteer, and donated and

raised funds.

 

Anglin was just one of some 500 people who " had never got up as early as

yesterday morning " to escort the panda, dubbed " Shenling No 1, " on the nearly

3-hour drive from Wolong to the release site. Spectators included panda experts,

workers from Wolong, officials from the State Forestry Bureau and Sichuan

Provincial Forestry Bureau, journalists and forest policemen.

 

It was the first time a panda had been released to the wild carrying a

global positioning system on her neck.

 

" Shengling No 1 " came into the media spotlight on July 16 when she was found

wandering the city of Dujiangyan.

 

The panda weighed about 60 kilogrammes and was 90 centimetres long. She is

between four and five years old, the age at which pandas reach sexual maturity .

 

" She might have happened to roam the streets of Dujiangyan from the

Longxi-Hongkou National Natural Preserve while looking for her 'Mr Right.'

Alternatively, she might have been driven away by her mother to start an

independent life, " said Li Desheng, a panda expert from Wolong.

 

A check-up found the panda to be suffering from an infection of the gall

bladder and anaemia. After round-the-clock intensive care for nearly 20 days,

the panda became healthy enough to return to the wild. " She now weighs 63

kilograms, " Li said.

 

To prepare for her return, more than 2,000 farmers in the Longxi-Hongkou

National Natural Preserve, which is dedicated to protecting giant pandas and

snub-nosed monkeys, spent three days searching an area of 607 hectares to clear

away traps left by local hunters.

 

After being set free at around 11 o'clock yesterday morning, the panda

headed straight into the forest, disappearing in less than one minute.

 

" Thanks to the global positioning system (GPS) on her neck, we'll be able to

know her whereabouts, whether she is walking, taking a rest, looking for food or

delivering a baby panda, " said Zhang Hemin, director of the Wolong Nature

Reserve Administrative Bureau.

 

(Source: China Daily)