The back-to-nature training was started by the Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in 2005.
The Wolong centre is a co-founder of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.
The programme was designed to introduce artificially bred giant pandas to the wild after two-years of training and preparation.
The first fully trained panda, Xiang Xiang, was sent back to the forest in 2006. However, the five-year-old bear was found dead in the forest in 2007. Expert said it had likely died from fighting with wild pandas over food and territory.
Since then, the centre has carried on training and releasing giant pandas to nature under the programme.
Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Center started the back-to-nature training programme for its cubs and adult pandas in 2005. In the file picture taken in 2006, mother panda Zhangka holds her cub at the centre in Sichuan, south-west China
The WolongGiant Panda Protection and Research Centre was established in 1980.
Located in the mountainous south-west China, it is currently the world’s largest panda protection and artificial breeding institution.
The giant panda, a symbol of China, was shifted off the endangered species list last September after years of intensive conservation efforts.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said in a report that the animal was classified as a ‘vulnerable’ instead of ‘endangered’ species, reflecting its growing numbers in the wild in southern China.
There are currently 471 captive pandas in China and most of them were bred using artificial insemination, according to China Daily.
While the population of captive pandas increased quickly, Chinese experts also worried that the genetic diversity of the bears was decreasing.
The world’s first panda with both captive and wild parents, was born in Hetaoping in July.
The female cub’s mother, Cao Cao, was raised in captivity but mated in the wild after being sent back to the forest.
The arrival of Cao Cao’s cub is considered a breakthrough in the breeding and protection of the giant pandas.