8 Olympic pandas to arrive in Beijing as scheduled

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Eight pandas from the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve  in Sichuan Province are due to arrive in Beijing  on Saturday.

Sending the pandas to cheer for the Olympics will also promote China's achievements in panda breeding and protection.

Zhang Hemin, Director Wolong Giant Panda Reserve, said, "The giant panda is a typical top species in the world, and also a representative of environmental and zoological protection and biological diversity. We want to let the people all over the world know about the protection of this endangered animal, and that China's artificial breeding of giant panda is very successful."

The earthquake badly damaged parts of the animals' homes, but all of the 60 or so pandas there survived the quake, although two are missing.

An emergency shipment of about five tons of bamboo has been delivered to Wolong. The supplies also included apples, soybeans, eggs and milk powder to ensure adequate food for the animals in the aftermath of the earthquake.

Some pandas have been transferred to the Ya'an Reserve near the provincial capital Chengdu to relieve some of the pressure on food and other supplies at Wolong.

Editor:Du Xiaodan