lovecatbear from Pandas Unlimited on Flickr has translated the following report.

A panda on a cliff in Heizhugou Nature Reserve

On April 22, a panda was spotted on a steep cliff by local villagers in Heizhugou Nature Reserve in Ebian Yi Nationality Autonomous County, Sichuan Province. Later, with some help of humans, the panda returned to the forest.

"In the morning, I heard my dog barking loudly. Following the barking, I saw something black and white on the cliff behind our village. Looking again, I found it was a giant panda," said a villager in Ebian Yi Nationality Autonomous County. This was not the first time he saw a panda. Only this year three pandas have been spotted in his village. Seeing the panda motionless on the cliff, he began to worry about whether it was sick or injured, so he reported the situation to the county forestry bureau and other related government departments.

At 7:45 am, when the message came to Li Zhihong, deputy director of the county forestry bureau, he immediately informed the nearest forestry officials. At 8:40 am, forestry workers arrived at the spot. By now, the panda was still lying there, halfway up the cliff. In order not to scare the panda, they asked villagers not to get too close and keep quiet.

When Li Zhihong arrived and found out that it was impossible to climb down from the top of the cliff, he decided to have Li Bin, an engineer of the reserve, climb up from the bottom. "The slope is very steep. Sometimes I could hardly find footing. What is more difficult is not to make loud noises, for fear of scaring the panda," said Li Bin.

Rescuers try to rescue the panda

Li Bin climbed up carefully and finally he got close to the panda. The panda moved a little and then was still again. "I have never got so close to a panda in the wild, too excited! This panda was very tame. I stroked it and it didn't show any fear. It looked neither injured nor seriously ill, just somehow got stuck halfway up the cliff." The panda was about 2-3 years old, strong, weighing over 50 kg. Knowing the panda was fine, all people set their heart at rest. They sent up an apple and some preventive drugs, carefully putting them close to its mouth. After finishing eating, the panda stood up and under the escort of rescuers, slowly climbed down to the valley. Watched by the crowd, it waded across a stream and then walked into the forest.

The panda wades across a stream to go back to the forest

LoveBearcat on flickr