Quake-affected pandas to return home

KUNMING - Three giant pandas temporarily adopted by a Yunnan zoo after a devastating earthquake destroyed their habitat in southwest China's Sichuan province four years ago will return home from this month.

The three females - Qian Qian, Si Jia and Mei Qian - were transferred to Yunnan Wild Animal Park in June, 2008, after a 8.0-magnitude quake struck Sichuan, on May 12, 2008.

File photo taken in June 2009 shows three females giant pandas, Qian Qian, Si Jia and Mei Qian play in Yunnan Wild Animal Park. They are temporarily adopted by a Yunnan zoo after a devastating earthquake destroyed their habitat in southwest China's Sichuan province four years ago and will return home from this month. [Photo/Xinhua]

They used to live in Wolong Reserve, the world's largest giant panda breeding center. Some 30 km from the quake epicenter, the reserve was severely damaged in the disaster, with panda pens flattened and its infrastructure ruined.

The quake left one panda dead, one injured and another missing. More than 60 pandas were made homeless.

According to staff of Yunnan Wild Animal Park, Qian Qian is to return back to Wolong in mid July, while the other two pandas will head home by the end of August.

More than 60 giant pandas were temporarily adopted by zoos in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Wuhan and other cities, after the quake.

They are all scheduled to return home in the coming months.

Giant pandas are among the world's most endangered species. Statistics from the State Forestry Administration show that about 1,600 of them live in the wild, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan, while another 300 live in captivity in zoos around the world.