Effect of quake on panda preserve still unknown

The Wolong National Nature Reserve and panda breeding center is the only place where the rare animals can be seen in such large numbers. Chinese officials and zoo officials overseas were worried about the center's 100 or so pandas, whose home is close to the heart of Monday's massive earthquake in central Sichuan province.

Pandas are a distinct symbol of China and the loans of the animals to other countries as peace offerings has been described as "panda politics." Their rarity and slow breeding make any large-scale loss critical to the population.

"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," said Suzanne Braden, director of U.S.-based Pandas International, which supports Wolong with medical equipment.

About 15 missing British tourists may have been in Wolong when the earthquake hit, the Sichuan provincial emergency management office said. Another group of 12 Americans who were on a panda-watching tour sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund also remained out of contact Tuesday, said Tan Rui, WWF communications officer in China.

More than 60 pandas at another breeding center in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu are safe, said an official there who gave his family name as Fei. The center even opened to tourists Tuesday, he said.

Attempts to reach Wolong by phone and e-mail Tuesday were unsuccessful, officials said. About 70 people work at the reserve, Braden said.

"We've lost contact with the Wolong center for more than 20 hours and we are gravely concerned over the safety of our colleagues and the pandas," Fei said.

The Wolong center is deep in the hills north of Chengdu along a winding, two-lane road that reports say has been wiped out in places. Rescue workers were only able to reach nearby areas of the remote region by foot on Tuesday.

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