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SCMP Reporter

A panda research centre in Wolong, Sichuan has released a captive-bred panda into the wild - a world first.

Two-year-old male Xiangxiang, whose name means auspicious in English, was released on July 7.

Zhang Guiquan, deputy director of the panda research centre, said they had been preparing for the release for years as part of a long-term project aimed at increasing the wild panda population.

But he said China still had a long way to go before it started mass release of pandas into the wild.

In the initial stages, the panda will continue to live in close proximity to its human caretakers.  Xiangxiang's movements will be restricted to a two-hectare area under the watch of zoologists before the bear is allowed to go further into the wilderness.

The number of pandas remaining in the wild was about 1,000, said Zeng Zhixiang, deputy director of the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding research base.

Their numbers were dwindling because pandas, by nature, do not mate within the same group and destruction of the forests has wiped out their traditional mating environments.

The research base now has 38 pandas, offspring of animals captured in the 1980s.

Thirty-two panda protection zones have also been set up in areas like Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi.

'It's time to return  the pandas to nature,' Mr Zeng said. 'But it is a tough task for us zoologists as the destroyed natural environment of pandas needs time to recover.'

Pandas are among the most endangered animals in the world because of human exploitation  of forests and the declining supply of bamboo, their staple food.

'The  habitat  of pandas has shrunk from 50,000 sq km to 10,000 sq km,' Mr Zeng said.

Hunting was another issue, he added. In 1999, a Chongqing farmer shot a one-year old wild panda and sold its fur for 200 yuan (HK$188).

After changing hands several times, the fur went on to fetch 550,000 yuan.



Captive-bred  giant panda released into the wild in world first