Wild giant pandas have been spotted twice since the beginning of the year in a nature reserve in southwest China's Sichuan Province, according to authorities.

One was spotted on March 25 at Heizhugou Nature Reserve of Ebian Yi Autonomous County, Leshan City.

"The panda was lying on the grass," said Like Xingfu, deputy secretary of the county's committee of the Communist Party of China.

"The white fur on its back was very easy to notice against the green woods.

"It was about 1 meter tall and 2 to 3 years old.

"After about 30 minutes, it crawled slowly into the forest, while turning back to look at us from time to time."

Like has worked in the county for six years and this was the first wild panda he'd seen.

The other wild panda sighting was on February 5, when local villagers found one stuck on a cliff and called in rescuers.

However, the panda got down by itself and disappeared into dense woods before rescuers arrived, said Li Zhihong, manager of the nature reserve.

"Locals are very keen to protect wild pandas," Li said. "They keep their dogs at home so as not to disturb pandas."

Giant pandas are among the world's most endangered animals.

China has established 62 nature reserves spanning 3.2 million hectares where 70 percent of the 1,600 wild pandas live.

Another 290 are in captive-breeding programs worldwide, mainly in China.

The forest coverage of Ebian County has reached 75.06 percent in 2010 after efforts to protect forests and return farms to wilderness.

(Xinhua News Agency April 2, 2010)