Panda breeding center in Chengdu recruiting special volunteers

Baby pandas in Ya'an, Sichuan/CFP Photo

By Liang Meilan

The Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding is recruiting six volunteers to join the center for two months. Chinese and foreign nationals between the ages of 12 and 60 are eligible to apply.

Zhang Zhihe, director of the research base, announced the project at the Shanghai Expo Chengdu Pavilion on Monday. “The six volunteers to be chosen from the world’s six billion people will experience one month of close panda observation and breeding … The base’s research laboratories are also going to be open to them, where they can observe the process of artificial insemination,” Zhang said, adding that they will also have the opportunity to see a panda give birth.

“The project aims to promote wildlife and environmental conservation worldwide,” he said.  
Sixty candidates will be picked at the end of the first round of selections in mid-September. Online voting will determine the top 12, who will undergo training at the Chengdu base. At the end of September, the six chosen volunteers will be announced and they will begin work in October.

In its recruitment notice, the Chengdu base said it is not necessary for candidates to be experts in animal breeding, but related experience is welcome. “All they need to have is a love for animals, an awareness of environmental protection and a sense of social responsibility,” Zhang said.

The most important requirement is physical fitness and a clean bill of health. “Breeding work involves much physical exertion, and pandas are susceptible to human cold viruses,” Zhang said. “Besides, the one-month experience includes tracking wild pandas in the forest, so candidates have to be able to withstand a harsh environment.”

Established in 1987 with six pandas rescued from the wild, the 106-hectarue Chengdu Research Base now houses 83 pandas. Besides breeding pandas in captivity, the center is also involved in wildlife research, conservation education and educational tourism.

For more information about the volunteer recruitment, call 028-8351 0033.