Giant pandas no longer ‘endangered,’ China says

Beijing, Jul 7 (EFE).- The Chinese government has downgraded giant pandas from an “endangered” species to “vulnerable,” as their number in the wild has reached 1,800, it said Wednesday.

The living conditions of some rare species have been improved, including those of pandas, Tibetan antelopes and Père David’s deer, a species native to China, Cui Shuhong, director of the Department of Nature and Ecology Conservation of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said at a press conference.

The “vulnerable” level is fifth on the endangered species scale after extinct, extinct in the wild, critically endangered, and endangered.

There has also been an increase in the population of other endangered species such as Siberian tigers and leopards and the Japanese crested ibis, Cui added.

In 2016, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) downgraded the status of pandas in 2016 to “vulnerable” and declared that there are 1,864 specimens in the world.

The natural habitat of wild pandas is currently restricted to six mountainous ranges in the south-central Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu, according to the WWF. EFE

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