The drought in central
China's Hubei
Province has forced the Wuhan City zoo to find alternate sources of
fresh bamboo for 22-year-old Qing Qing, the 'heroic mother' of 13
panda cubs.
Because of the dry weather, the zoo's own 7,000-sq-m bamboo
grove has not been able to keep pace with Qing Qing's appetite.
"Qing Qing eats about 50 kg of bamboo leaves and stalks a day and
seldom touches other foods such as eggs or milk," said zoo keeper
Gu Zhiqiang.
?
Giant panda Qing Qing enjoys bamboo in the
Wuhan Zoo in central China's Hubei Province on Tuesday, February
06, 2007. Although having hit the old age of 22, Qing Qing has an
extremely good appetite, consuming 50 kilograms of bamboo every
day.? ?
"We found the available bamboo supply (from the zoo's plot)
would only last for another month, so we had to appeal to the
society for help. It is expected the new bamboo shoots (from the
zoo's plot) will be able to meet the panda's needs by late April or
early May," said Gu.
In late January, the zoo approached the local media with its
bamboo dilemma and search for new bamboo sources and donations to
cover the expense.
"We intended to improve awareness of wildlife protection,
especially giant pandas, and hopefully to get some donations to
finance the cost of securing the extra bamboo supply," said Fu
Hanming with the publicity section of Wuhan City Zoo.
While information on new growths of bamboo poured, the cash
didn't.
A 56-year-old man, identified only by his surname Lu, phoned
saying he knew of large bamboo grove at north side of Mount
Guishan. He even sent samples for Qing Qing to try out.
"Giant pandas are our national treasure, so everyone should give
a helping hand in this situation," said Lu.
On learning the giant panda's plight, Wuhan Botanical Garden
offered up 200 kg of bamboo for Qing Qing.
The zoo finally made a deal with Zhuhu Chenyi Nursery Co. Ltd.
on supplies of 100kg of bamboo every other day. It charges five
yuan a kilogram, which costs the zoo 250 yuan a day to feed Qing
Qing.
Unfortunately, the zoo has to bear the entire cost as it didn't
receive any cash donations following the newspaper's article in
January.
(Xinhua News Agency February 9, 2007)
