China eyes female panda for next release into wild

BEIJING, June 8 (Reuters) China may release a female panda into the wild after a 5-year-old male was found dead, probably the victim of a fight, because females are seen as less of a threat by their wilder peers, state media said today.

Xiang Xiang was found dead in snow in the mountainous southwestern province of Sichuan in February, 40 days after scientists picked up its trace for the last time via a wireless tracking device.

Experts from the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Centre were now working on three new action plans, Zhou Xiaoping, associate chief engineer with the centre, told Xinhua news agency.

''The first option is to send a female giant panda into the wild because females are more easily accepted by wild pandas and a male one is usually regarded as a threat,'' Zhou was quoted as saying.

The other two options were releasing a mother panda with her cub or a pregnant panda, said Zhou, explaining that the cub could adapt to its new environment at a younger age.

Xiang Xiang was the world's only artificially bred panda living in the wild. It was released back into its natural environment at the Wolong Nature Reserve for Giant Pandas in April last year.

''Xiang Xiang had no fighting experience in the wild and was a weak attacker compared with the wild pandas, which was the direct cause of his death after he got into a fight with the aboriginal 'residents' for food or territory,'' Tang Chunxiang, senior vet with the centre, told Xinhua.

The giant panda is one of the world's most endangered species and is found only in China. An estimated 1,000 live in Sichuan and in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in the northwest.

REUTERS KK BD0838