Report: Rare giant pandas at Chinese breeding center safe after quake

Sixty pandas at a research center near the heart of a devastating earthquake in central China were safe, a state news agency said, but the fate of the most famous panda preserve _ even closer to the epicenter _ remained unknown Tuesday.

The pandas, which are among the world's rarest animals, at a preserve in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu were unharmed in the magnitude 7.9 quake Monday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

But there was no immediate word on the status of another 100 or more pandas at a bigger, more famous preserve in Wenchuan county, closer to the quake's epicenter. Earlier reports said that the quake cut off communications with the Wolong National Nature Reserve and panda breeding center, and that officials were trying to reach the center _ so far without success.

"It could be devastating," said Suzanne Braden, director of U.S.-based Pandas International, which supports Wolong with medical equipment and supplies. "The wild pandas, they can sense things. I'm sure they moved to higher terrain. But captive pandas do not have that luxury. They do not have the skills to survive in the wild."

Both the Wolong and Chengdu centers are part of efforts to breed giant pandas in hopes of increasing the species' chances of survival. About 1,600 pandas live in the wild in China's mountainous west and another 180 live in captivity.

The Wolong center has more than 100 pandas according to its Web site, but state media estimate 280 or more might live there. The center is the only place in the world where the animals can be seen in such large numbers, and visitors often pay extra for the rare chance to play with young pandas.

"It's magical. It's a beautiful place," Braden said. "It's high, clean, pure, where you'd like to think that wild pandas would be."

It is also difficult to reach, even in the best of times. The center is deep in the hills north of Chengdu along a winding, two-lane road that reports say has been wiped out in places by the quake.

Chinese officials were continuing to try to make contact with Wolong, where Braden said about 70 people work.

"We were shocked to learn about the earthquake in Wenchuan," Zhang Shougong, director of Chinese Academy of Forestry, said in an open letter to the research center in Wolong.

About 15 missing British tourists may have been in Wolong when the earthquake hit, the Sichuan provincial emergency management office said. They also were unreachable Tuesday morning.

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On the Net:

Giant Panda Breeding Research Base: http://www.panda.org.cn/english/index.htm