A giant panda underwent surgery on Thursday in Xi'an, the capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, as veterinarians attempted to repair its broken back.

During the two-and-a-half-hour operation, four orthopedists, three anesthetists and two nurses at the Animal Experimental Center at Xijing Hospital worked to mend Kang Kang's broken thoracic vertebra, stabilize his spinal cord and remove sections from two other vertebrae to reduce pressure on the spinal nerves.

Li Mingquan, chief surgeon and director of the Department of Orthopedics at Xijing Hospital, said, "It is difficult to say if the panda will be able to stand properly after the operation, but we have certainly stabilized the injury and prolonged the animal's life."

The doctors say they will have to wait three months before they know how effective the procedure has been.

The injured panda was found on April 4 in Shaanxi Province's Changqing Nature Reserve and was transferred to Xi'an on April 6, said Zhao Bin, director of Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Rescue and Research Center, who gave the official go-ahead for the operation.

April is the peak mating season for the giant panda, and it is believed that Kang Kang was injured in a fight over a female.

When the 20-year-old animal was found, veterinarians discovered that the broken vertebra and damage to his spinal cord were causing partial paralysis.

It is the first time such an operation has been carried out on a panda and the experience adds valuable information to experts' store of knowledge on the unusual creatures.

Specialists hope to be able to add Kang Kang to the panda breeding program.

"If the reproductive organs of the injured panda are not damaged and semen can be extracted and frozen, it will provide valuable material for our artificial insemination program," Zhao said.

There are some 300 giant pandas in Shaanxi's Qinling Mountains, where the 30,000-hectare Changqing Nature Reserve was established in 1994.

According to Worldwide Fund for Nature, in 2004 there were an estimated 1,600 pandas living in the wild.

(China Daily, China.org.cn April 15, 2005)