Stranded panda lured to safety
2010-02-09 17:33
Beijing - It was like getting a cat out of a tree - Sichuan style.
Villagers in southwestern China's Sichuan province discovered a panda stranded on a steep mountain face, apparently too scared to climb down, state media reported on Tuesday.
Villagers didn't dare attempt a rescue of the endangered animal but called animal conservationists and fed the panda bananas while they waited for help, the report said.
"The panda is a national treasure, so everyone's scared to hurt it," a local forestry official was quoted as saying.
The giant panda, estimated to be about 3-4 years old, was eventually lured from behind a tree with more bananas and managed to scramble off the mountain, it said.
Only about 1 600 pandas live in the wild, mostly in Sichuan.
Another 120 are in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos and about 20 live in zoos outside China.
- AP