US-born giant panda adjusts to new home

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, February 14, 2004

US-born giant panda adjusts to new home

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US-born giant panda Hua Mei was so disoriented when she arrived at her new home at the Wolong Nature Reserve, southwest China's Sichuan Province, that she refused to leave her travel cage for two hours.

Hua Mei, who is the first returned overseas-born panda, found herself in the snow-capped hills surrounding the nature reserve at3:35 p.m. Friday.

At 3:50 p.m., she was sent to her new dwelling in a mountain valley in Bailonggou, 1 km from the giant panda research center.

No other wild animals live in Bailonggou as it is encircled on three sides by 3,000-m mountains, and only one path links Bailonggou to the outside world.

Hua Mei, or "China America", born in the United States in 1999,set foot in China for the first time when she arrived in Beijing Thursday afternoon after a 10-hour flight. She was received as a VIP.

Facing the new, quiet environment of Bailonggou, Hua Mei was disconcerted and reluctant to leave the cage. Still dozy, she wentto sleep in the cage, keeping the spectators in suspense.

She woke up at 5:40 p.m., but lingered in the cage, staring at the new surroundings in confusion.

Keepers tried to lure her out, but she settled down to eat bamboo. Twenty minutes later, she appeared to brace herself, and walked out in a reserved manner.

Hua Mei's new home consists of a 120-sq-m hillside field encircled by an iron fence, and a 16-sq-m log cabin, installed with heating facilities.

Hua Mei sniffed around in the field in which bamboo and 10 wildtrees grow.

Construction of the new dwelling for Hua Mei started on Feb. 6 and was nearly finished, said researchers, adding that the buildings had passed inspection by the Sichuan administration for entry-exit inspection and quarantine.

The dwelling was built at a cost of 60,000 yuan (7,220 US dollars), they added.

Hua Mei will be quarantined for a month and then join with 210 other pandas in the reserve, including 140 in the wild and 70 in captivity.

Though separated from her mother Bai Yun, or "White Clouds", inSan Diego, California, Hua Mei will meet her father Shi Shi, or "Stone", who returned home last year. Bai Yun will continue to livein the United States with another male Gao Gao, or "Tall" and their one-year-old son Mei Sheng or "American Born".

She was just a 100-gram baby at birth, but now weighs 75 kg andis ready to become a mother, said Terry Mulroney, animal care manager of the Zoological Society of San Diego, who escorted Hua Mei home.

Hua Mei's parents went to the United States in 1996 as part of a 12-year research cooperation program between the two nations. The male was about ten years older than the female and was repatriated last year after six years abroad.

The female gave birth to a male panda last year after living with Gao Gao, which was considered a significant contribution to the population of giant pandas.

China has poured considerable resources into protecting the endangered species. Their numbers have been depleted by low fertility, logging, poaching and periodic dying out of their staple food, bamboo. Only 1,000 giant pandas are estimated to livein the wild, all in China, while over 140 live in captivity aroundthe world.

Under the cooperation contract, cubs of the pandas abroad belong to China and should be returned after they are three years old.

Source: Xinhua

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