On Dec. 12nd of 2011, CRBGPB held a press conference in Beijing, announcing that Chengdu giant pandas are stepping into the reintroduction time now. It may take 50 years to totally release 108 giant pandas back to the wild that is the largest artificial-bred group in the world. And then the first batch of 6 giant pandas trained in the wild will be settled in the“Panda Valley” of Dujiang Dam on 11st of Jan, 2011.
Press Conference (Scene 1)
Press Conference (Scene 2)
Press Conference (Scene 3)
Zhang Zhihe Chairman of CRBGPB
Making a Speech
Yaoming, the famous basketball player, will serve as an ambassador of wildlife conservation to attend the ceremony on 11st of Jan, 2012.
Doctor. Zhang said, in the past, we had spend 50 years on saving pandas and devoted to create a harmony relationship between human-beings and pandas. Now we will take 50 years or even more to make pandas return to wild little by little instead of keeping them in dens all along, which is a history mission of CRBGPB’s as well as Chengdu’s, as a city of panda hometown.
The first batch of 6 pandas settling in “Panda Valley” of Dujiang Dam is Xing Rong, Xing Ya, Gong Zai, Ying Ying, Zi Zi and Qi Qi respectively. They are all at subadult age as the childhood as human-being’s, featured with rapid growth, brave characters and strong survivability and adaptation. It cost around 1 year for CRBGPB to select out 6 pandas from 108 and organize them into an advance team through conducting strict inspection on pedigree, health, genetic background and sex ratio.
The Panda Valley, located in Majia Ditch, Yutang County, Dujiang Dam of Chengdu, is established by CRBGPB and the government of Dujiang Dam with fund of 300 million yuan. The master planned area is 2004 acres including 1870 acres of rent forest lands. There will be 30 to 40 giant pandas and 50 to 100 red pandas released to wild, so long as the Reintroduction Research Center is completely set up.
The wild-release research, being launched by “Panda Valley” will focus on carrying out a demonstrated study and practice for breed, rescue, disaster relief and wild release, with feature of wild rearing and super goal of wild return, which is aim to build a buffering belt of panda regression to natural reserve and effectively promote reestablishment of high-end ecology for Mt. Long Men zone after Wen Chuan great earthquake. So that the farthest nature reserve will be provided with more scientific protection and technical support.
It was on January 17, 1953, that the first wild giant panda was found and rescued. The panda was taken to the Futoushan Breeding Farm at the Chengdu Zoo, the predecessor to the Chengdu Panda Base.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the bamboo in the Min Mountains flowered and died. Bamboo is the primary food source for the giant panda, and once it flowers, its lifecycle ends. After the flowering many giant pandas starved to death. However, some giant pandas were rescued and taken to Chengdu until they had recovered. All but six of these pandas were released back into the wild. The six remained at the Futoushan Breeding Farm for health reasons.
In March 1987 with the support of the Chinese State Ministry of Construction, Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens, the State Forestry Ministry, the State Science and Technology Ministry, China Wildlife Conservation Association, and the Sichuan Provincial government, among others, the Chengdu Municipal Government decided to establish the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. The six sick and weak giant pandas formed the initial population for the giant panda population at the Research Base, thus beginning the long and challenging ex-situ conservation program.
The typical example of ex-situ conservation of endangered species in China is that of Père David's Deer. In the late 19th century there was only a small population of the deer living in the Imperial Hunting Park in Beijing. Several of these individuals were taken illegally to the UK and the European continent. Shortly after they were moved, war broke out in China and the deer that remained in Beijing were killed for food. The deer that had been moved to the UK thrived due to the concerted efforts of the Duke of Bedford. Père David's Deer has since been reintroduced to China under captive management programs, but is extinct in the wild.
Through the hard work of generations of people, 161 giant panda cubs have been born, to 109 litters. 119 of those cubs have survived, and there are currently 108 individuals at the Chengdu Panda Base. This is the largest self sustainable captive population in the world. It is hoped that this population will be able to rejuvenate the wild population when reintroduction becomes possible.
As a result, the 6 giant pandas as an individual of wild state research will be first back to Majia Ditch of Dujiang Dam, the mountains that their ancestors ever came from.
