MSU student Vanessa Hull in her quest to collar a panda

Reports from Wolong bring stories of challenges

House damaged in Wolong Nature Reserve.

May 29

Graduate students Wei Liu and Mao-Ning Tuan Mufrom of the MSU Panda team in Wolong, communicated  have both have safely left the Wolong Nature reserve after spending time there assisting in rescue efforts and assessing damage, Jack Liu reports.

Wei Liu now is in Beijing, were he plans to stay for several weeks. He may return to Wolong later in the summer if conditions permit.

Mao-Ning Tuan is in Taiwan with his parents, revising his summer research plan and hoping to collect field data in two other regions within the panda range that are not as badly damaged by the quake.

May 18

Graduate students Wei Liu and Mao-Ning Tuan Mufrom of the MSU Panda team in Wolong, communicated with Jack Liu using a satellite internet system to report on their progress.

While they are safe and beginning to prepare to return to the United States, Jack Liu received word that the struggles are far from over in the nature reserve.

Graduate students Wei Lui (right) and Mao-Ning Tuan Mufrom.

Jack Liu reports: “The panda breeding center has suffered heavy damage. More aftershocks and more landslides still place pandas in a dangerous situation.”

Wei Liu and Mufrom elected to stay immediately after the earthquake May 12 to help with rescue work. They’ve been living in tents and working to re-establish communication systems. They reported:

“This has been the sixth day since the earthquake, and we are good here. Zhang Hemin (the director the panda breeding center) just came back yesterday and everything is getting better. The road from (the) Xiaojin side is expected to be connected by tomorrow. We have decided to leave when it's safe on those roads, and there might be another option to leave together with the new director of the Sichuan Department of Forestry (who came yesterday, too) by helicopter sometime. We will try our best to keep in touch with you.

“Please forward this email to all the people… to thank for their concern for our safety.

“BTW, almost all of our major collaborators and assistants and their families are all safe at this point, except that three people in the conservation station at the entrance of the reserve lost their lives.”