Giant panda to be freed, more releases to come
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-12 09:44

Giant pandas bred in captivity will be released into the wild in Sichuan Province in an effort to improve the genetic diversity and quality of the species.

Three-month-old twin pandas play at the Wolong Giant Panda Breeding and Research Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province November 5, 2005. [newsphoto]

Yang Dongsheng, director of Sichuan Forestry Bureau, said the purpose of the release program is to increase the number of pandas overall and preserve the endangered species in the wild.

"With the increasing number of pandas bred and kept in captivity, we will be able to set some of them free and form new affiliations for their species," said Yang. He didn't say how many would be freed now.

Xiang Xiang, a panda bred in Sichuan's Wolong Giant Panda Research Center, has been in a reintegration program since 2003, according to Zhang Hemin, an expert with the center.

Zhang said the panda will be fully set free in the area around the center in the near future. He said that by 2008 the freed animal will be fully adjusted to life in the wild and will begin to breed.

If Xiang Xiang adapts well, several panda couples will be freed.

Experts fear life in captivity may blunt the animal's natural instincts. Wild pandas are inquisitive creatures, with occasional aggressive tendencies.

The increasing number of giant pandas in captivity made it possible to return some animals to the wild, according to professor Feng Wenhe from Sichuan University.