CHENGDU, May 9 -- A villager in Zhaojue County of southwest China's Sichuan Province discovered a wild panda on Wednesday and protected the animal with his fellow villagers until it was transferred to a nature reserve early on Friday morning.

Gyalpo Tsopug, from Yimudi Township, discovered the female panda believed to be about two years old by a bamboo forest near his house at about 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

"We saw it running hundreds of meters along a tunnel and it disappeared in the forest," he said.

He reported the sighting to the village and township authority.

The Yimudi Township government mobilized more than 50 people around a hill to prevent the panda from being poached, according to Ngokgu Rigti, Party secretary of the Yimudi township government.

"We were afraid the panda would run to open ground where illegal poachers would be around," he said, adding that villagers had been trying to keep the panda in an area and not to let it get out.

Due to a lack of bamboos for the panda to eat and risk of poachers, the township government decided to move the animal to neighboring Dafengding National Nature Reserve in Meigu County, 170 km away from the town.

The panda left the town at 7:35 p.m. on Thursday and arrived at the nature reserve at about 1 a.m. on Friday.

The panda had injuries to its right leg and needs further treatment, according to Fang Kui, head of the nature reserve administration.

According to experts, the panda probably got lost from its mother in a nearby nature reserve and mistakenly walked into the village, said Fang.

Giant pandas are one of the world's most endangered species. About 1,600 live in the wild, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan, while more than 300 live in captivity.

Known as China's "national gem", more than 40 pandas are on lease and their offspring now live in 17 zoos in 12 countries.