Giant pandas suffer post-quake trauma

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-14 20:39

BEIJING -- Si Jia stood on her hind legs trying to snatch her milk bowl from a zoo keeper's hand. During the tug of war the metal container fell and gave out a loud bang when hitting the ground. All three giant pandas in the area were scared away.

For at least a week, the pandas feared the zoo keeper and his bowl.

In their new home at the Wild Life Park in Kunming, in southwest China's Yunnan Province, Si Jia, Mei Qian and Qian Qian still need time to heal from the trauma inflicted by the devastating May 12 earthquake.

The 8.0-magnitude quake damaged their former homes at the Wolong nature reserve in Sichuan Province where more than 150 pandas lived. Fourteen of the 32 pens were destroyed and six pandas went missing, one of whom was later found dead.

The three pandas, all female and less than two years old, were rescued from their hideout in the trees and sent to the Ya'an base in Sichuan, an area less affected by the earthquake.

Still haunted by the continuous aftershocks and landslides, they had to travel again toward the end of June to Kunming where they would spend two years to heal from their psychological trauma. Their main caregiver, zoo keeper Xiao Yi from Wolong, followed them to Kunming.

Two weeks after arrival, the pandas were getting used to the new place.

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