A giant panda which was rescued by local farmers and treated by experts was released into the wild on Sunday in the Wolong Nature Reserve in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The giant panda, aged four and weighing 70 kg, was found at the scenic Siguniang Mountain in Sichuan on April 22.

She was taken to the Wolong-based China Giant Panda Institute malnourished, hungry, and in extremely bad condition.

After three months' intensive care, the giant panda, who was named Siguniang after the place she found, recovered fully and experts decided that it was time to release her back to nature.

Deng Xiangsui, an official with the Sichuan Provincial Forestry Department, said that Siguniang was the fourth giant panda rescued and released in the province since the beginning of the year.

The giant panda is an endangered species and only about 1,000 survive in the world, most of living around the Sichuan basin.

(Xinhua News Agency July 21, 2003)