Heartbreaking! Panda Cub ‘Lu Lu Zi’ Dies After Suffocation While Playing
Sichuan Online Report (reporters Kou Minfang) On the evening of April 10th, the official Weibo account of the China Giant Panda Protection Research Center issued a message: On the same day, the panda cub ‘Lu Lu Zi’ (born August 10, 2019, female) died of strangulation due to the climbing rope wrapped around its neck.
Around 2:00 AM on the 9th, ‘Lu Lu Zi’ climbed onto a wooden frame with climbing toys in the outdoor play area of the Shenshiping Base Kindergarten and began to wrap the rope of the climbing ball around its body, showing signs of struggling. Within a few minutes, the cub stopped struggling and unfortunately died.
Due to the late night incident and the difficulty in distinguishing between the cub’s resting posture on the wooden frame and its struggling posture, the night patrol personnel failed to notice the abnormality.
In the morning of April 9th, at 9:00 AM, the management department of Shenshiping Base Kindergarten, with the participation of the kindergarten's feed staff, conducted a distant observation of the cubs in the play area. They found that most of the panda cubs were resting and did not notice any abnormalities. Staff members explained that at that time, ‘Lu Lu Zi’ was facing away from the observation area, making it difficult to see its face clearly, and the distant view was just like hanging on the wooden frame resting.
It was not until 9:00 AM on April 9th that the feed staff found that ‘Lu Lu Zi’ had rope wrapped around its neck and forelimbs. Through contact and observation, it was initially judged to be dead, and then notified the veterinarian, who confirmed the cub’s death after examination and sampling.
The China Giant Panda Protection Research Center stated that it felt deeply saddened by the departure of the giant panda ‘Lu Lu Zi’. This incident also made it fully aware of the certain omissions in the safety management of giant pandas. The Panda Center will draw lessons from this incident, further strengthen the safety checks and evaluations of the enrichment items for young giant pandas, and thoroughly eliminate safety hazards in the park; at the same time, it will strengthen nighttime patrol to prevent such events from happening.
It is reported that the China Giant Panda Protection Research Center is the largest giant panda protection research institution in the world. As of the end of 2019, the number of captive giant pandas in the center has reached 313, accounting for more than 50% of the global captive giant panda population. The Panda Center currently has four bases in Ya’an Bifengxia, Dujiangyan Qingchengshan, Shenshiping and Wolong Huatopia, housing 182 giant pandas and 124 companion animals, including red pandas, black bears, golden monkeys, pheasants and other species.
