The earthquake of May 12th 2008, is still causing problems for the giant panda programme in china.

The earthquake which caused the death of nearly 80,000 people, left large areas of bamboo forest underneath landslides of mud and rocks, rendered some bamboo groves inaccessible and reduced tourism to the sites which depend on it the most.

The timing of the earthquake coincided with a mini panda cub boom, which saw the birth of over 30 panda cubs born to the 2 main panda breeding centres Chengdu and Bi Feng Xia which were already at near full capacity. The centres especially Bi Feng Xia had to undertake major building projects to accommodate the new arrivals from Wolong and the panda cubs. This lead to a strain on the food sources and caused the price of bamboo to sky rocket at a time where funding was at it's most stretched.

Sufficient food for wild pandas helps them to relax and breed better, it is thought that the wild population may not have so many cubs this year, as wild pandas are having a difficult time in getting food for themselves.

Tourism at the Chengdu panda base crash to half of the previous year, as many people thought that it had been destroyed and not the base at Wolong. The economical downturn has also reduced the number of visitors.

Still in-spite of all these hardships the staff and friends of the pandas are working hard to ensure the continuity of the giant panda.

I would like to thank everyone involved with pandas, from the wonderful staff who look after them, the medical staff who keep them well, the other staff that support the aforementioned staff and everyone who donates funds no matter how small to help protect our wonderful friends the pandas.

If you can spare a few pennies please give to pennies4pandas or you can adopt a panda though pandas international sponsor a panda or wwf adopt a panda