4 years after quake, pandas return home  

中国卧龙保护区震后重建完成 首批大熊猫“回家”

卧龙自然保护区管理局30日上午在卧龙神树坪熊猫基地举行大熊猫回家仪式，欢迎震后首批18只大熊猫从碧峰峡基地重返卧龙。

Sichuan (CNS) -- A first group of 18 giant pandas arrived at the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province on Tuesday, four years after their removal from the area.

The return of the pandas marks the basic completion of the rebuilding work at the Wolong base after the devastating earthquake in 2008, said Zhang Hemin, chief of the nature reserve and director of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP).

Thirty-two giant pandas at the Wolong base were moved to parks nationwide. Others were relocated to the Bifeng Gorge Base in Ya'an of Sichuan after their habitat was severely damaged by the quake.

Funded by the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the new base covers an area of nearly 20,000 square meters, twice as large as the previous one.