Panda Cub Entangled in Rope Suffocates and Dies

The China Panda Protection Research Center stated in a statement that panda cub Lu Lu died last week outside the base's panda cub nursery, suffocated after being caught in a rope.

Shiwengping Base, Wulong Natural Reserve, China Panda Protection Research Center, where the event occurred on April 9th. Staff discovered the panda cub's lifeless body. Lu Lu was born on August 10, 2019, and had always been at the Shiwengping Base. On Thursday, it was playing alone in a specially designed activity area for cubs, climbing onto a wooden frame with hanging toys. Lu Lu, trying to grab the ball, got caught in a rope and couldn't get free. This occurred around 2 a.m., so the base staff couldn't find the cub in time. When staff arrived at the feed point in the morning, they saw Lu Lu hanging on the frame, assuming it was resting. Center staff didn't discover Lu Lu's paws and neck wrapped in rope until around 9 a.m. The China Panda Protection Research Center expressed deep sorrow over Lu Lu's departure and recognized that there were certain oversights in the management of giant panda safety. The center promised to learn from this tragedy, strengthen safety checks of the environment and items for giant panda cubs, and thoroughly investigate safety hazards in the park; at the same time, strengthen nighttime patrol to prevent such events from happening!

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