Threat to Panda Population Seen as ‘Shocking’

Chinese authorities have arrested 203 people for illegal hunting of the endangered giant panda and recovered 146 pelts, representing about one in seven of all pandas alive at the last count, the World Wildlife Fund said Wednesday.

“These are shocking revelations,” William Reilly, president of the fund’s U.S. affiliate, said in a statement. “The situation appears to be worsening for the panda,” with the decline toward extinction more advanced than previously believed and hunting the greatest threat.

China’s last public estimates of the panda population were made in 1976--about 1,000 animals. Another survey is under way, and results have been announced only for the Wolong Nature Preserve--145 in 1976 and 72 now.

Chinese authorities have said poaching was controlled, though possible death penalties for poachers were announced last fall, the fund said.