Sick panda rescued in China

CHENGDU - A panda suffering a cold and lung infections has been rescued from the wild, staff with the China Research and Conservation Center of the Giant Panda said on Monday.

The panda, a 16-year-old male, was found on Nov. 30 lying in a gully in the wild in Baoxing County in Ya'an, Sichuan Province.

"It was producing a lot of mucus and has a lung infection. At 16 years old, it has entered its senior years, but its health remains stable," said Wang Chengdong, a veterinarian who examined the animal.

The panda also has mouth and nose injuries, which doctors suspect resulted from tussling with other animals.

It has been taken to the center's Dujiangyan base, where it will be anesthetized and receive medical examination.

Only 1,864 giant pandas live in the wild, mostly in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Shaanxi. The average life span of a panda is 25 years.