When the devastating earthquake struck close to the Wolong Panda Reserve on May 12th 2008, 60,000 hectares of panda habitat was destroyed.

The Sichuan Provincial Government have reviled plans to repopulate the destroyed habitat and much more besides in fact over 100,000 hectares.

The plans include patching together isolated areas of panda habitat with corridors so that pandas can cross freely and so spreading their genes to other areas thus reducing the potential of diseases, and other restricted gene pool related problems.

The Sichuan Provincial Government have said that the cost of this will be 600 million yuan, which 498 million had already obtained approval and 141 million yuan has already been spent.

It is expected to take till 2012 to complete the repopulation of the damaged areas.