Released Panda Proves to Be Just Wild Enough
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
China released a panda bred in captivity into the wild for the first time, and the animal scampered into a nearby bamboo forest where it will be monitored via satellite.
Xiang Xiang, a 4-year-old male raised at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center in Sichuan province, was trained for almost three years to survive in the wild, the official New China News Agency said.
Almost 100 scientists, zookeepers and tourists saw him off. Police with riot gear stood guard “in case it ran wild,” the news agency said.
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