More than a decade on from the Sichuan earthquake, the Chinese province’s giant panda population is holding up, with a little help from Hong Kong
- The local giant panda is classified as vulnerable by the WWF and conservation was greatly complicated by the 2008 quake
- The Hong Kong government helped with post-earthquake reconstruction in the Sichuan wildlife reserves, resulting in free visits for Hongkongers
In a restricted conservation area tucked away in Wolong in Sichuan province – known for being home to giant pandas classified by global conservation body WWF as vulnerable – researcher Yang Fan braces the snowy weather to strap an infrared camera to a tree trunk, and walks back and forth to make sure the angle is right.
Yang hopes to use the 100 or so infrared cameras installed in the Dengsheng conservation area on tranquil mountain Balangshan to track some of the 1,387 wild giant pandas and other precious animals such as snow leopards and sambar deer in the province. The data collected can help his team understand more about wildlife.
The 42-year-old guardian has only come across two pandas in the wild in his two decades in the job and he displays a picture he took in 2015 of a panda sleeping on a tree.
His caption read: “After patrolling here for so many years, I finally see a wild giant panda.”
Yang said his team also encountered another panda during a field trip a few years ago, and it was an encouragement to the team who had worked hard to protect the animals.
Yang once fell from a height of four metres as he hiked to carry out his duties on the snowy mountain, he added.
City’s pandas could be sent back to Sichuan if they don’t start having babies
“Seeing wild pandas shows us there are still a number of them and their habitat is intact – it’s very satisfying. To us, this is a recognition of our 20 years of hard work. We are so happy,” he said.
The wild pandas in Sichuan faced threats to their survival in May 2008 when a magnitude 8 earthquake hit the province, killing more than 80,000 people.
According to the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Hong Kong, the natural disaster affected 83 per cent of China’s panda habitats and completely destroyed over 500 sq km, an area 2,630 times the size of Hong Kong’s Victoria Park.
The breeding centre in Wolong and some field stations were also affected, and roads and motorways were seriously damaged.
Giant panda conservation success of China and world’s zoos celebrated
In a charitable move, the Hong Kong government spent HK$1.58 billion on 23 construction projects at the Wolong reserve, including Dengsheng conservation station – the workplace of Yang and his 13 other colleagues.
To thank the city for forking out a total of around HK$10 billion for reconstruction work in Sichuan, the mainland authorities granted free admission for Hongkongers to visit two key projects – the Shenshuping and Duijiangyan bases of the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda – from May 2016.
The Shenshuping site has since received over 6,400 visitors from Hong Kong while the Duijiangyan base welcomed more than 9,000.
Panda watch: US National Zoo’s Mei Xiang artificially inseminated
The invitation however was not extended to the Dengsheng conservation area.
He Xiaoping, director of the administration bureau at Wolong Nature Reserve Admini
stration was thankful for Hong Kong’s contribution but said the Dengsheng area could not open to the public at this stage as human activities would affect the wildlife and its home.
This means only those with special permits can access the Dengsheng reserve.
Kanis Leung was reporting from Wolong
