Quake blamed for death of panda

It will be at least 10 more years before vegetation is restored in the mountains of the Wolong National Nature Reserve - China's largest panda reserve - so that the terrain, weakened by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, will be more stable, a leading panda expert said.

Zhang Hemin, chief of the reserve's administrative bureau, made the remarks after an adult panda was found dead on Friday afternoon near the sluice gate of the Gengda Hydropower Station in Wolong, Sichuan province.

Zhang said damage from the Wenchuan catastrophe was to blame for the panda's death.