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Shenzhen zoo investigated over panda tricks
By Li Xinran |
January 7, 2009, Wednesday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
PANDA keepers in a Shenzhen zoo were being investigated by the zoo authority for allegedly making money by forcing an old panda to pose for photos with visitors.
Safari Park Shenzhen said they would be punished if the accusation was true, Western China Metropolis reported today.
A panda fan in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, said yesterday that Yongba, the zoo's only panda, may be maltreated, the report said.
The netizen, who was identified by her online nickname as Qiuyueguisi, posted on Tianya.cn, the country's most popular online forum, that the 25-year-old Yongba had two plates of milk and three buns a day. Only when it was taking photos with visitors could the female panda enjoy a piece of apple, the report said.
A set of photos by Qiuyueguisi showed Yongba was not in good health, knocking on the door of her shelter for food and wondering aimlessly in her pen.
Qiuyueguisi, a Jiangsu native now working in Shenzhen, also suspected Yongba was ill as its stomach was swollen.
Safari Park Shenzhen denied the accusation and said Yongba's living conditions were "not bad," the report said.
A keeper with 15 years of experience took care of the panda, which reportedly lived in an air-conditioned shelter.
Yongba enjoyed a 20-square-meter bedroom and a 50-square-meter playground, the zoo authority said. The food supply was also in accordance with its demand and based on scientific ways, it added. The zoo also plant bamboos for Yongba, the newspaper said.
However, Qiuyueguisi criticized that some keepers forced the panda to take photos with visitors to gain 10 yuan (US1.45) each time.
The zoo replied that they had launched an investigation and would punish keepers involved in if the accusation was true.
Yongba is the mother of Tiantian, who is on loan to the United States-based National Zoo in Washington DC, according to Qiuyueguisi.
Yongba was saved in 1983 and sent to a panda preserve in Ya'an, Sichuan Province. Before it moved to Shenzhen in 2004, the panda was once lent to Hefei, capital of Anhui Province, and returned to Ya'an in October 2003.
The China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Sichuan Province has asked the Shenzhen zoo for an explanation of the incident. It planned to take Yongba back if it found the animal had been mistreated, according to the report.
Safari Park Shenzhen said they would be punished if the accusation was true, Western China Metropolis reported today.
A panda fan in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, said yesterday that Yongba, the zoo's only panda, may be maltreated, the report said.
The netizen, who was identified by her online nickname as Qiuyueguisi, posted on Tianya.cn, the country's most popular online forum, that the 25-year-old Yongba had two plates of milk and three buns a day. Only when it was taking photos with visitors could the female panda enjoy a piece of apple, the report said.
A set of photos by Qiuyueguisi showed Yongba was not in good health, knocking on the door of her shelter for food and wondering aimlessly in her pen.
Qiuyueguisi, a Jiangsu native now working in Shenzhen, also suspected Yongba was ill as its stomach was swollen.
Safari Park Shenzhen denied the accusation and said Yongba's living conditions were "not bad," the report said.
A keeper with 15 years of experience took care of the panda, which reportedly lived in an air-conditioned shelter.
Yongba enjoyed a 20-square-meter bedroom and a 50-square-meter playground, the zoo authority said. The food supply was also in accordance with its demand and based on scientific ways, it added. The zoo also plant bamboos for Yongba, the newspaper said.
However, Qiuyueguisi criticized that some keepers forced the panda to take photos with visitors to gain 10 yuan (US1.45) each time.
The zoo replied that they had launched an investigation and would punish keepers involved in if the accusation was true.
Yongba is the mother of Tiantian, who is on loan to the United States-based National Zoo in Washington DC, according to Qiuyueguisi.
Yongba was saved in 1983 and sent to a panda preserve in Ya'an, Sichuan Province. Before it moved to Shenzhen in 2004, the panda was once lent to Hefei, capital of Anhui Province, and returned to Ya'an in October 2003.
The China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Sichuan Province has asked the Shenzhen zoo for an explanation of the incident. It planned to take Yongba back if it found the animal had been mistreated, according to the report.
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