Giant pandas do more than laze around eating bamboo. At least, Hong Kong's four famous black-and-white bears do. Le Le, Ying Ying, On On and Jia Jia are working hard to raise funds for their brethren residing in Mainland nature reserves. 

Hong Kong's pandas and their Ocean Park keepers hold animal close-encounter activities to woo more visitors to the park by giving them closer access to the bears to garner donations for the Ocean Park Conservation Fund.

The activities include the panda keepers project in which participants learn how to care for the pandas, and the breakfast with giant pandas programme which gives visitors the chance to enjoy meals in the panda-viewing gallery with educational ambassadors discussing the bears.

Panda popularity: Ocean Park's Zoological Operations & Education Director Timothy Ng says more than two-million visitors have visited Ying Ying and Le Le since the opening of the Giant Panda Habitat last July.

Reserve relief
The activities have helped raise vital dollars for the fund which has already seen an initial one-million reminbi injection from the park itself to rebuild Mainland nature reserves damaged by the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan.

The money has been used to procure relief supplies like mobile homes, sleeping bags, water purification tablets and power-generating machines.

The park's Zoological Operations & Education Director Timothy Ng told news.gov.hk the earthquake affected a huge area, damaging panda bases in Sichuan, Shanxi and Gansu provinces. He said the park decided to help after considering the severe damage caused at the Wolong giant panda centre.

The park's staff are assessing damage to the bases and the amount of rebuilding required. Professionals may be sent to co-ordinate the rebuilding which could last years, Mr Ng said, adding donations from the public are vital.

Upon Ying Ying and Le Le's arrival in April last year the park committed to raise $10 million in five years for the conservation fund to support the panda reserves.

"The money will go to the conservation projects on the Mainland to enhance community education, capacity building and staff training," Mr Ng said.

The park donates $1 from every admission as well as part of the proceeds from panda merchandise to the fund, which has been able to raise more than $7 million since its launch. Donation boxes have been installed throughout the park to accept any additional contributions patrons can spare.

Animal attractions
The four bears have attracted more than two-million visitors to the park's Giant Panda Habitat since its opening last July.

Newcomers Ying Ying and Le Le have been living in Hong Kong for more than a year and are in good health, thanks to the work of the park's keepers.

"Ying Ying has gained 30kg and weighs more than 80kg now, while Le Le has gained 40kg and now weighs over 100kg," Terrestrial Mammal Supervisor Cissy Kuo said, adding the panda pair have grown a healthy kinship, always eating and playing together.

However, the three-year-old pandas are yet to reach sexual maturity, so no cubs are expected for at least another two years. Miss Kuo said keepers will monitor the bears' behaviour and liaise with experts from the Wolong centre on the reproduction issue.

In the meantime, the park is building a new home for them to prepare for their growth and hopefully their offspring. It will open next year.