China Giant Panda Center Responds to Cub's Suffocation Death: 'Never Seen This Before,' Will Conduct Thorough Inspection of Hazards
On April 10th, the China Giant Panda Protection Research Center announced that the female giant panda 'Lu Lu Zi' at the Shenshiping base died due to strangulation caused by entanglement of the climbing rope around its neck at eight months old. On the 11th afternoon, the Panda Center accepted a exclusive interview with CCTV's anchor.
Hotpoint One: Has something like this happened before?
China Giant Panda Protection Research Center Professor Huang Yan introduced that he has been doing giant panda scientific research for 30 years, and he has never seen such a situation. He also felt very surprised because whether it is wild giant pandas or captive pandas, sometimes they will fall from trees or from several meters high, and occasionally some injuries will occur, but there has never been such a case, it is really a great pity.
Hotpoint Two: Why do giant pandas appear outdoors at night?
Why do giant pandas appear in the outdoor sports field at night? Huang Yan introduced that the door connecting the Panda Kindergarten to the cage and the sports field is generally open, and the giant pandas are free to enter and exit. The keepers generally do not interfere too much. Through the study of giant pandas, whether wild giant pandas or captive pandas, besides the daytime activity, they also have nighttime activity peaks. It is not exactly the same as human's rest time, giant pandas sometimes have high activity frequency at night.
Hotpoint Three: How to plug the gaps in giant panda safety management?
Regarding the death of giant panda 'Lu Lu Zi', the Panda Center expressed deep regret and responded: There are certain omissions in the safety management of giant pandas. Currently, the climbing rope device in the incident site has been removed. Huang Yan said that climbing helps giant pandas' growth and development, but it should pay more attention to its safety, and the requirements should be higher. On the same day, in the four bases of the Panda Center, these hidden dangers were all excluded, especially those with ropes, such as sharp objects, and other things that may affect the safety of the pandas, were checked one by one. (CCTV News)
