The Panda Research Centre at Wolong was just 30km's away from the centre of the earth quake that happened on the 12th of May. The staff there did a wonderful job of rescuing the infant pandas from the nursery and across the rickety bridge to Wolong town.

14 of the 32 panda enclosures were destroyed, and the rest are in a poor state. They are looking in to relocating the centre to a more secure area.

The Chinese army managed to airlift in food and supplies for the pandas and staff by the end of the week with a lot of it donated by Pandas International (www.pandasinternational.org (Please give what you can to this brilliant group))

Five members of staff at the reserve (non panda caretakers) lost their lives in the quake. Numerous people lost their homes and possessions in the quake and landslides resulting from the quake.

One panda Maomao lost her life after a wall on her enclosure collapsed on her. It was thought that she had escaped, but a month later her body was found in the rubble, she was given a funeral the next day after she was found and two apple and a piece of panda bread were laid on top on her grave to help her to the next life.

Everybody is working very hard to help the pandas and people at Wolong Research Centre. The biggest concern at the moment is finding enough food for the pandas, which can eat 20-40kg of it a day. The local people who earn their living collecting the bamboo from the forests are busy looking after themselves and their families.