Global News - November 2007
< Back to Global News
Food shortages 'threaten panda survival'
Fri 16 November 2007 15:00 UK — Asia,Bears
A report has warned that China's giant pandas could face food shortages in the future, as the bamboo plants they eat are nearing the end of their lifespan.
The state Xinhua news agency reported that Yang Xuyu, deputy head of the Sichuan provincial forestry bureau in west China, delivered the warning at the annual meeting of the China Giant Panda Breeding Technical Committee.
Mr Yang said that reports indicated that several types of bamboo were beginning to flower in the Sichuan province, home to 1,206 pandas.
After bamboo flowers, it seeds and then dies, leaving the pandas short of food.
"No wild panda has been found dead of starvation. But as the area of bamboo flowering spreads, we should keep a close watch on the severity of the pandas' food shortages," Mr Yang is reported to have said.
In the past, bamboo died and pandas still survived. However, Mr Yang said that human settlements made it harder for the creature to move to areas where newer bamboo was growing.
Figures suggest that there might be between 2,000 and 3,000 giant pandas alive in the wild.
Help IAR save animals from suffering around the world.
News brought to you by International Animal Rescue, leaders in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation.
< Back to Global News |
Read IAR News
Read IAR News >
|
June 2008
Update on IAR’s work in Indonesia
As well as macaques and slow lorises, our team in Indonesia has ended the suffering of a number of endangered Javan gibbons living in misery in a centre known as Cikananga. June 2008
IAR speaks out against the Great British Circus scandal
International Animal Rescue is urging people to stay away from the Great British Circus during its visit to Tonbridge because it uses a variety of animals in its acts, including lions, tigers, camels and zebras. |
