Chinese Pandas Are Safe At Preserve

Rare Beasts Taken To Safety After Earthquake Kills Tens Of Thousands

(AP)  All the pandas at the world's most famous panda preserve were reported safe late Tuesday, more than a day after China's worst earthquake in three decades closed off the remote, mountainous area.

The Wolong National Nature Reserve and panda breeding center is the only place in the world where the rare animals can be seen in such large numbers. But Chinese officials and zoo officials overseas had worried about the fate of the center's 86 pandas since Monday's devastating earthquake rattled nearby areas in central Sichuan province.

Late Tuesday, officials at Wolong used a satellite phone to contact the State Forestry Administration and report that the pandas were safe, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said all panda cubs had been taken to safety.

Thirty-one British tourists panda-watching in Wolong and initially reported missing were safe and in the provincial capital of Chengdu Tuesday night, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Twelve Americans visiting the area on a tour sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund remained out of contact, Kerry Zobor, a U.S.-based spokeswoman for the the WWF, said.

Pandas are a national symbol for China. They are loaned to other countries as friendship offerings in what has become known as "panda politics." They are so rare and so slow to breed that any large-scale loss could have been critical to the population.

More than 60 pandas at another breeding center in Chengdu are safe, and the center reopened to tourists Tuesday morning, Xinhua said. Another eight pandas at a preserve in Ya'an, about an hour's drive west of Chengdu, were reported safe as well.

But the Wolong center is deep in the hills north of Chengdu along a winding, two-lane road that reports say has been wiped out in places by the quake. Earlier phone and e-mail contact had failed.

Pandas are among the world's rarest animals. Both the Wolong and Chengdu centers are part of efforts to breed giant pandas in hopes of increasing the species' chances of survival. About 1,600 pandas live in the wild in China's mountainous west and another 180 live in captivity.

The Wolong center offers visitors the rare chance to play with young pandas, while wearing sterile gloves, booties and gowns for the pandas' safety.

"It's magical. It's a beautiful place," said Suzanne Braden, director of U.S.-based Pandas International, which gives medical equipment and supplies to Wolong. "It's high, clean, pure, where you'd like to think that wild pandas would be."

It is also difficult to reach, even in the best of times. Rescue workers only reached nearby areas by foot Tuesday, a day after the quake struck.

[jboxton]

We KNOW there are a lot of people dead! Do you just want endless stories over and over saying all these people died? Isn''t it nice to find SOME silver lining in this? Besides there are a billion Chinese. Losing some isn''t going to hurt as much as losing some pandas. There are a lot less of those.

[usbrit-2009]

In the midst of the horror and tragedy of the earthquake, I choose to at least smile briefly about the Pandas being safe.

[zorar-2009]

Has any Chinaman ever ate a panda?
If so how did you prepare it?

[incog-nito]

Phew! I feel so much better now.

[sistatee-2009]

Okay, the Pandas are safe. Now they can return to their jobs at the Reebok factory.

[pad917]

I guess I am interested in the Panda because 12 American are missing. They were on the way to see the reserve. If we can get word about the pandas maybe we will get word about the missing 12.

[taylor2124]

I don''t know about you guys, but even printing an article about whether "the pandas are safe" feels really, really, wrong when over 20,000 people are killed and even more are buried alive. CBS is sinking to new depths of insanity and bad taste even talking about this subject. After all, they''re just bears, for heaven''s sake.

[harp1963]

There is no doubt the Chinese Communists who are letting American companies use their people as slaves care more for their Pandas.

[cyberdjs4]

Thanks CBS for showing us what matters most to you.
Pandas over people.

[thisandthat1]

12,000 people dead including innocent little children. Who gives a *** about panda bears? Let''s get our priorities straight! Sheesh!

[acolton1]

I honestly dont think that Pandas are hurting for food they eat Bamboo.