CHENGDU - The heaviest snowfall to hit Sichuan province in 20 years may cause food shortages for pandas living in wilderness area, a panda specialist reported on Tuesday.

Wolong county's mountains, a major giant panda habitat, were hit by a rare blizzard on Sunday and Monday.

As of Monday night, at least 22 cm of snow had accumulated, said Zhang Hemin, head of the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center.

The center, formerly based in Wolong, moved to Bifeng Gorge, in the mountains near the provincial capital, Chengdu, after an earthquake destroyed some of its facilities in May 2008.

Only six of the center's pandas were receiving training on how to live in the wild, after being released from captivity. That takes place in a semi-wild, but enclosed, area in the mountains of Wolong, Zhang explained, adding: "None of them was hurt by the blizzard."

Zhang and his colleagues saw no immediate risk to the pandas. The zoologists secretly look in on them and provide them with food when necessary to keep them from hunger or other risks, without disturbing their lives in the "wild".

"But the hidden panda life in the mountain wilderness may not be such a lucky thing," said Zhang. "They may have trouble rummaging around for food now that the forests are covered with a thick layer of snow and some of the bamboo damaged."

Though the blizzard ended on Monday night, the weather bureau has forecast a new wave of snow in the coming week.

"We're watching the weather closely and when the snow melts a little, we'll send forestry personnel to check on the pandas," said Zhang.

The zoologists think that about 145 wild pandas are up there roaming about the mountains, based on an earlier survey.

Wolong Nature Reserve Administration officials said the blizzard destroyed about 2,000 hectares, or 2 percent, of the reserve's forest area, including 80 hectares of bamboo, the giant panda's staple food.

The blizzard also disrupted traffic on local roads and power supplies in the county seat and forced 192 primary school students to stay home.

Xinhua

(China Daily 03/23/2011 page6)