According to the official Weibo of the China Giant Panda Protection Research Center, at 2:00 AM on April 9th, “Lu Lu,” a female panda, climbed to a wooden frame with hanging balls in the outdoor playground of the Shishiping Base Kindergarten in Sichuan Province and subsequently wrapped the rope of the hanging ball around its body, beginning to struggle. Within a few minutes, the cub stopped struggling and unfortunately died.

“Lu Lu” is a female panda born on August 10, 2019, and died at half a year old.

As stated in a statement from @China Giant Panda Protection Research Center,

On April 9, 2020, the Panda Center’s Shishiping Base giant panda “Lu Lu” (born on August 10, 2019, female) died due to strangulation caused by wrapping the hanging ball rope around its neck. At 2:00 AM on April 9th, “Lu Lu” climbed to the wooden frame with hanging balls in the outdoor playground of the Shishiping Base Kindergarten in Sichuan Province and subsequently wrapped the rope of the hanging ball around its body, beginning to struggle. Within a few minutes, the cub stopped struggling and unfortunately died.

Two opportunities to discover were ignored:

One was in the early hours of the morning, when the night patrol personnel did not find it. The report said: Due to the late night, and “Lu Lu” wrapping posture was difficult to distinguish from the rest posture, the night patrol personnel failed to discover it.

The second was in the morning of the same day. The kindergarten staff of the Shishiping Base Management Center first visited the feeding point of the kindergarten and saw that most of the panda cubs were resting. Because the dead cub was facing away from the viewing area, it was difficult to see its face from a distance, so it was mistaken for resting on the wooden frame, and was again ignored.

In addition, netizens have reflected that the time was around 2:00 AM. The viewers of the live broadcast at the time saw that “Lu Lu” was hanging there and didn’t move for a long time. When they called the China Giant Panda Protection Research Center, no one answered. Under the eyes of many people, a panda cub died hanging for a whole 7 hours.

It wasn’t until 9:00 AM that the keepers entered the cat hut’s playground. They discovered that “Lu Lu”’s neck and forelimbs were wrapped with the rope of the hanging ball, and judged that the cub had died for a period of time. They then notified the veterinarian. After the veterinarian examined it, they collected samples for testing.

Currently, the Shishiping Base in Sichuan Province posted a Weibo:

We are deeply saddened by the departure of giant panda “Lu Lu”. This incident also made us fully aware that there are certain omissions in the giant panda’s safety management. We will learn from this incident and further strengthen the safety inspection and assessment of young giant pandas’ environmental enrichment items, and completely eliminate hidden dangers in the park; at the same time, strengthen night patrol, to avoid such incidents from happening.

It is reported that the Shishiping Base in Sichuan Province implements a panda concentrated kindergarten system, separating young pandas from their mothers before half a year old for artificial rearing, because at this time the panda mother is still in the lactation period, this measure is to “prematurely wean”.

Currently, due to this incident, netizens have proposed suggestions:

1. Stop the policy of forcibly separating young pandas from their mothers before half a year old, let the panda mothers protect their own children

2. Ensure that the on-duty personnel cannot ensure 24-hour supervision, at least return the cubs to the indoor places that are easy to observe at night

3. The hanging ball toys should be suitable for age, comprehensively assess the safety risks, adult solitary pandas have a high acceptance rate for hanging balls, but the best hanging balls for young cubs are still mothers

4. Ensure that the hotline is open 24 hours

Panda cubs are difficult to survive, the accident has already happened, only can the staff and institutions involved learn from the lessons, quickly find the cause of the accident, to avoid repeated incidents.

It is hoped that the Shishiping Base in Sichuan Province will achieve what is described in the Weibo: it has recognized certain omissions in the giant panda’s safety management, will learn from the lessons, conduct safety inspections and assessments of panda toys, completely eliminate hidden dangers in the park; and strengthen night patrol, to avoid such incidents from happening.

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