Panda looks for a new leg

Scientists in northern China are seeking an artificial limb for a female panda which has lost one of her front legs in a fight.

In December, a resident of Dajiangou village in Shaanxi province found a group of pandas fighting.

A two or three-year-old female that rescuers named "Niu Niu", meaning girl, was taken to an animal rescue centre and saved, but lost two-thirds of her front left leg.

"Two thirds of its front leg is missing, which brings her much inconvenience to its foraging for food, walking and mating," said Ma Qingyi, a veterinarian with the centre.

Staff are appealing to the world's experts for suggestions and hoped to receive a plan for a "meticulously scientific" fake limb as soon as possible.

China has gone to great lengths to protect the giant panda, which is regarded a national treasure and found only in nature reserves in the country's Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces.

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.