CRI听力: Malaysian Company Adopts Panda Cub in China

A Malaysian company recently adopted a panda cub at a panda base in southwest China's Sichuan Province. The baby panda was one of the 47 panda cubs born after the devastating Sichuan earthquake in 2008.

Zhang Ru has more.

At the Ya'an Bifengxia base of China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in southwest China's Sichuan Province, a panda cub named Haohao is meeting his new "parents."

GuocoLand China Limited, property arm of Asia's leading conglomerate the Hong Leong Group, adopted the eight-month-year-old male panda. This is the first Malaysian company that has adopted a panda in China.

At the adoption ceremony, Violet Lee, Group Managing Director of GuocoLand China, and other employees of the company, had a close encounter with the panda, Hao Hao.

"It's so unimaginable that you can actually hold a panda as if you are holding a baby."

Violet Lee says the adoption is part of the company's "Passion for Conservation" campaign that aims to protect the environment.

"We want to protect the environment. We want to conserve and we want to protect wild animals. What's the most symbolic and what we think is the cutest of the wild animals, I think nobody and beat the panda. And the panda is also a reprehensive of China. Since we are operating in China, we are going to do something that's a symbolic of China."

The company has donated 600,000 yuan, or about 93,000 US dollars, for a lifelong adoption of the panda. The money will go to support research for panda protection, nursing and breeding.

The panda's mother, Mei Qing, is a survivor of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.

Zhang Hemin, head of China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, calls for more people to help protect pandas.

"It costs more than 150,000 yuan every year to breed a panda at our center. Most of the funds come form the government and we accept also group or personal adoption. The donations will be used to conduct panda-related research and protect habitats for wild pandas. Now the most important task of panda protection is to save and expand habitat for pandas."

Zhang says although the disaster caused the death of one panda, it also made an increasing number of people from both home and abroad to show their concern for pandas, one of the world's most endangered animals.

"So far more than 30 enterprises and 200 individuals have adopted pandas at our center. Also, there are many other people taking various means to contribute their love and care to pandas, for example, being a volunteer at our center's bases."

Zhang says for individuals, it costs 4,000 yuan, or about 600 US dollars, to adopt a panda for one year, and 40,000 yuan for lifelong adoption, while yearly and lifelong adoptions for organizations are 40,000 yuan and 300,000 yuan, respectively.

The adopters can get free admission to visit the panda and can also give a name to the adopted panda.

For CRI, I am Zhang Ru.