European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 3, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tracking Down the elusive Panda in zoot. By Marvine Howe new York times Deally the bashful solitary giant pandas should be Scon on their own Lurl in the Remote Bamboo forests of Central China. But even Sci lists have difficulty finding the reclusive and increasingly fare animals. For Panda lovers and i am one who prefer to Seo the great cuddly beasts in a fairly natural habitat a Good place to watch them is the Chengdu zoo in China. Tha zoo has about a dozen pandas Large and Small which Are free to get out of their Cagos and wander around a spacious Yard. Chengdu is 1 ,�70 mites Southwest of Beijing and the capital of Sichuan province where scientists estimate there Are about 800 pandas roaming wild through dense forests and Bamboo Groves out of a National total of 1,000 still tree. The 300 others Are to be found mainly in a Haanel and Ginsu provinces to the North and in Remote Corners of the tibetan Highlands. The Beijing zoo also has pandas. Two of hem called Ling Ling and Yong Yong Are on loan to the Bronx zoo. Ii visitors to Chengdu have a Good Deal of Lime and even More patience they May get the Sichuan travel service there to organize an expedition to the Wolbong natural Reserve in the Qiong Lai mountains about 87 Miles Southwest of the City. Travel to Wolbong requires an alien permit from the Sichuan forestry Bureau which can take severe months to arrange. There Are 11 pandas at the Wolbong research and conservation Center and 75 in the wild on the Reserve. The Sichuan travel service would help with Gelting an alien permit but it would still be a lengthy undertaking. But even in the Reserve which is a joint Effort of the chinese government and the world wildlife fund the elusive creatures Are Ricly seen. Tho Best Lime of Day to go to Chengdu zoo is around 8 am., when the pandas arc Bufi a fed they devour vast amounts of Bamboo stalks and leaves i hair Chiel food occasionally to the Delight of photographers there is a scuffle when one of the pandas having gulped Down its share of Bamboo decades to help out a companion who still has Bamboo to out. The Young pandas spend less time than their parents Over breakfast and usually gather in the big Yard outside either romping on a sliding Board or wrestling with each other. Sometimes this Panda play looks More like vicious fighting. A Brg Panda seems to hit its squealing baby brother or sister mercilessly but it always knows Whan to Stop the Chengdu zoo says it has made Greal Progress in Breeding pandas telling in a brochure of successful experiments in artificial insemination the zoo cites the Case of the Panda Mei Mei. Which was artificially inseminated in the Spring of 1980 and 150 Days later gave birth to undersized twins said to have weighed three ounces each. Ona of the cubs died shortly after birth but the other a mate survived growing to 2t pounds in six months the cob named Rong Sheng. Is very Active and naughty according to the zoo. Already Rong Sheng is a National hero having appeared on chinese television and in the movies. The zoo has 200 other kinds of animals from Lions tigers leopards and elephants to a wide variety of monkeys reptiles and Birds. Most of them Are native to Sichuan province. The zoo 13 also a great place for people watching. The children who visit Are particularly appealing Many wearing the latest Tad an army hat. Other visitors come from Mongolia or Tibet wearing their colourful kerchiefs and great sheepskin coals. There Are also Peanut vendors Candy sculptors and Snake charmers. Chengdu itself is a vibrant mix of new and old an Industrial City with a population of nearly four million. It is situated in the Center of Iho country s richest agricultural area. The streets Are crowded with bicycles and buses and everyone seems in a hurry to got somewhere the newest Par of town has Broad ires lined avenues office buildings of seven and eight a lyrics High billboards urging family planning and a 35 fool Lalue of chairman Mao the old town has narrow streets and two Story while stucco houses with wooden balconies. Four River flow through the City the Nan the fun. The Sha and Iha Jin and there Are a number of pleasant Riverside walks and Parks wan Jiang Park or instance has 120 different kinds of Bamboo and a three Story River View Pavilion built of fragrant Cedar Wood with upturned roofs decorated with pieces of broken ceramics. Church officials openly say that a kind of religious revival is going on in Chengdu with roman Catholic and protestant churches and Buddhist temples welcoming foreign visitors. On the average sunday during my recent we Klong visit the protestant Church on Ningxiang Street near the exhibition Center was full and several Hundred chinese worshippers listened to a Loudspeaker outside. The officially recognized protestant Church there Are also Many informal House churches not recognized by the government was badly damaged by bombs in la second sino japanese War of 1937-45 and was shut Down during the cultural revolution according to Hua Chang i director of the Sichuan Christian Council Seminary. Now the Church has resumed Ita activities serving 1.500 protestants in Chengdu according to Hua Wilh Bible classes for illiterate women and a Semir with 43 students nearby the Catholic Cathedral a handsome two Story columned building i was loft intact by the japanese but All my furnishings were destroyed and the prof 91 driven out during a cultural Romolu Roii according to the priest Liu Xian re who Furm work until the Church was reopen re 1979. Some 300 to 400 people attend i daily and More than 60 students Are enrolled in Iho Seminary which opened last year according to Liu there Are several important Active Buddhist and Taoism temples in the Regie Wolbong natural Nepal Reserve Bhutan India Burma a profitable fantasy called Nessie by Seth m. Lederer associated Pressw hat s 1.400 years old has outwitted dozens of scientists generated hundreds of millions of dollars and May not even exist it s the Loch Ness monster a legend that to May be a Liny Slep closer to being cracked but Tike the abominable snowman and big fool still continues to capture the world s imagination. Nessie managed to preserve her reputation recently As the most elusive creature of the deep Wilh three minuscule sonar bleeps although she kept her True identity secret. Twat a great Relief to the tourist Industry at Drumnadrochit Scotland and to London bookmaker William Hill who stands to lose More than it ,6 million if she s found because Nessie As fantasy is Worth far More than Ness,.3 33 fact or worst of All proven fiction. There was plenty of gloating that a it re monster had triumphed Over the biggest most expensive scientific expedition Ever to probe her murky haunts. Indeed the recent $1,6 million Hunt Wilh sophisticated american sonar equipment proved that High technology can t kill a legend. Of pm a cartoon in the Longton evening Standard showed a Long necked Nessie standing on the Banks of Loch Ness and asking a Fisherman have they gone yet More than 300 journalists from Texas to Rio de Janeiro flocked to the tranquil shores of the 754-Foohjeep Lake tantalized by a press release promising the largest and most comprehensive sonar search for Nessie. What they got were three sonar blips that could be from moving objects up to 400 pounds the size of a shark and nearly 10 limes bigger than the largest Salmon found in Loch Ness. Or they could be nothing. Expedition Leader Adrian Shine is convinced there s something there though not a Media monster the prehistoric Long necked reptile thai is the favorite depiction of Nessie. Shine a 38-year-old London Salesman who is been Hunting Nessie for 14 years said he would be satisfied Wilh a huge predatory fish. Ronnie Bremner who owns two hotels overlooking the Loch and the Loch Ness exhibition Center at Drumnadrochit says he believes in the Media Mons a Causa three years ago he saw a monster 25 to 30 Leet Long looking like an upturned boat with a Black Hump and i was Stone cold sober Nessie is big business in Hal Beautiful and sparsely populated Corner of the Scollish Highlands. Every year about a million tourists come a third from overseas and spend about 1250 million. The publicity brought to this area by the monster and by this search a incalculable said Jean Slessor director of the Ai to to wrist Board. We think in is one of the big tourist attractions in the world Tony Harmsworth director of the Loch Ness Center which was one of the sponsors of the recent operation Dee scan. Added candidly if it was Likely Adrian was going to prove there was nothing in Loch Ness we would t be one of the sponsors would we Shine plans to continue searching the Lake with sophisticated scanning sonars Hal tilt in All directions hoping to gel a larger data base of big and possibly moving objects in its deep Waters. Then hopefully in a year he will Start the next phase which will be to gel cameras Down to photograph areas that generate sonar blips. Shine says Hal for him the Loch Ness monster is what s in those As yet unexplained sonar contacts. Whether that will satisfy the Mic than 4,000 be cafe who claim to have seen Kneisia in modern limes is doubtful you can t kill myths Wilh science Shine said Harmsworth said he expects both the Bea Lyol Loch Ness shown in the massive to coverage and the seriousness of the scientific expedition to bring More visitors next year. The William Hill bookmakers lowered the Odds on finding Nessie from 250-1 to 100-1 after being inundated Wilh bets totalling about s16,500 from All Over the world. To would mean a payout of More than $1,6sj million in she s found in the next year we be gotten bets from new zealand nearby Inverness said Graham Sharp T tuesday november 3.1987