China Panda Sanctuary Declared World Heritage Site

China Travel Services

China (AHN) - A giant panda sanctuary in China has been declared a World Heritage site. The sanctuary, taking charge of the world's most endangered species, can now effectively petition for aid.

Located in the region in Sichuan province, Reuters quoted an official as saying. "It is the largest remaining contiguous habitat of the giant panda and the most important captive breeding ground for the animal,"

The World Heritage status will require the Chinese government to actively maintain the bamboo-covered area.

"To protect an animal is not just putting it living in the zoo, but keeping it alive in its home," Lu Zhi, a panda specialist at Peking University told China's official Xinhua news agency.

The sanctuaries also hosts rare animals such as the red panda, snow leopard and clouded leopard.

There are only an estimated 1,600 pandas remaining in the wild and 180 held in captivity.

Brief Description
Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, home to more than 30% of the world's highly endangered pandas, covers 924,500 ha with seven nature reserves and nine scenic parks in the Qionglai and Jiajin Mountains. The sanctuaries constitute the largest remaining contiguous habitat of the giant panda, a relict from the paleo-tropic forests of the Tertiary Era. It is also the species' most important site for captive breeding. The sanctuaries are home to other globally endangered animals such as the red panda, the snow leopard and clouded leopard. They are among the botanically richest sites of any region in the world, outside the tropical rain forests, with between 5,000 and 6,000 species of flora in over 1,000 genera.