223 wild pandas at high risk for survival

Beijing, February 28:  A total of 223 giant pandas living in the wild in Chi are at high risk for survival, an official survey said on Saturday.

According to the survey conducted by the State Forestry Administration (SFA), the giant pandas, living in 24 isolated populations in the wild, accounted for 12 percent of the total in the wild. They are living “at high risk for survival and the situation is still alarming”, the survey said.

As a result of geographic isolation and human intervention, the wild population is fragmented to 33 isolated populations, among which, 22 populations with less than 30 individuals are on the brink of extinction and in particular those 18 populations with less than 10 individuals are facing extremely high risk of extinction, said the report. The challenges for giant panda protection came in the context of a generally improving picture which showed that the population of giant pandas in the wild had increased by 268 to 1,864 from more than 10 years ago.

The habitat areas of giant pandas also expanded by 11.8 percent to 2.58 million hectares from the year 2003. Habitats fragmentation is the major factor threatening the survival of giant pandas. (IANS)