An expert examines a wild giant panda found in a vegetable plot near Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province on October 26, 2008. [Photo: Beijing Morning Post]

A villager saved a starving giant panda that lives in the wild near the Wolong Nature Reserve in southwest China's Sichuan Province on October 26, 2008.

This is the first ever wild panda rescued since this May's devastating Sichuan earthquake, the Beijing Morning Post reports.

Deng Wenping, the villager found the wild panda looking for food in his vegetable plot early 7 o'clock on Sunday morning. The panda was moving very slowly and was suspected to be ill.

Upon his information, the local township rushed a fact-finding experts group to the site and took the panda to the Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.

After initial examination, the experts identified the wild panda as a 10-year-old female, and she has been suffering from malnutrition and digestion problems. Weighing at only 60 kilograms, the weak panda is believed to have been in hunger for months ever since their food chains in the wild have been shattered by the quake.

Her condition has now become stable following the medical treatment given by the experts group. Reports say experts are conducting further examinations on her.

The Wolong National Nature Reserve is less than three kilometers away from the epicenter of the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12 this year. More than 40 kilometers of the giant panda's habitat were damaged.

As winter approaches, the giant panda's staple food, bamboo, will be covered by snow, further exacerbating their food shortage.

(CRI October 29, 2008)