The Last Refuge: One Woman's Glimpse of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Page #4

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To re-establish contact

they must sedate

and re-collar Xi Wang

They must act now

before they lose her again

But her perch above a cliff

makes it a delicate operation

The tranquilizing

dart is necessary

the pain to be inflicted slight

But the moment is

always disconcerting to those

whose lives are dedicated

to protecting wild things

Several minutes pass as

drowsiness sweeps across her

They pray she won't fall

Now docile

Xi Wang stays in the tree

enabling them to bring

her down safely

At 80 pounds

she is a precious but awkward burden

The professor

who is her observer and defender

a father of two daughters

bears her as carefully

as if she were a third

Using radio collars

Pan and Lu Zhi have been able

to keep track of the whereabouts

and activity of more than

Theirs is the first

comprehensive study to document

social and breeding

behavior of wild pandas

These periodic

inspections are inconvenient

for Xi Wang and rob her of dignity

But she is contributing

details of her development

that can be obtained in no other way

Xi Wang's story could affect

her entire species

revealing how to ensure

their survival in the wild

and to improve their

care in captivity

For Xi Wang it has been

a day of curious events

and a close encounter

with another species...

She returns to her mother

and the life of endless simplicity

now interested only

in a drink of water and

soon perhaps, a little bamboo

At the Shashuping research station,

a moment of farewell

After months of work

four of Pan's students

must return to the university

Assistants will come

and go during the years ahead

but Pan intends to stay

here as long as it takes to

understand the life

of pandas in the wild

and to keep them roaming freely

through the surrounding forests

In the ritual exercise

called qigong

Pan daily rekindles

his determination

"My friends in Beijing always ask:

'Why do you continue to work...

"...in the field

year after year?

When will it end?

Your work has been published

Why don't you stop?

I tell them:
"My goal

is to protect the panda

and to establish

a refuge for them in the wild

That is my mission

but it will be difficult

Achieving this goal may

take my entire lifetime

And even that may

not be enough"

So one man perseveres

as solitary as his pandas

a lonely figure in this

island of wilderness

One man and one panda

Since these scenes

were filmed

Xi Wang has struck

out on her own

In the not too distant future

she could have a cub herself

As pandas have for

millions of years

she will feast on the forest

drink from cold streams

endure the chilly mists

But her passage though life

will be recorded for the ages

because, like her name

Xi Wang represents

for all her species...

a last fateful glimmer of hope

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