Panda found in wild over two years after release

CHENGDU -- A female giant panda released into the wild more than two years ago was spotted in Southwest China's Sichuan province, sources with a local nature reserve said on Tuesday.

The giant panda was spotted by a villager in Shimian county in the city of Ya'an. Researchers in Liziping Nature Reserve identified it as the giant panda named Zhang Meng they released in Oct 2016 and found her to be in good physical condition through examining her feces.

According to Shi Xu, a staff with the reserve, the collar that they put on Zhang Meng when she was released fell off in May 2017. Researchers have only been able to track her by searching for panda feces since then.

The panda ran away after she saw humans approaching her, according to the villager who spotted her.

"It is a good thing that she ran away from humans. It indicates that she became wilder," said Shi. "She was not so afraid of people when we found her last time in Shimian county in 2017."

The panda was born on July 7, 2014. She was released into the wild in the Liziping Nature Reserve on Oct 20, 2016 following two years of wilderness training.