Panda Cub Dies After Strangulation from Rope Entanglement, Discovered During Live Stream
Observer.com NewsOn April 10th, a Weibo netizen reported that a cub at the China Giant Panda Protection Research Center's Shizeping Base experienced an accident. On the 9th, at 2 a.m., it was discovered in a live streaming video hanging from a rope, and was not found until 9 a.m. the next morning.
On the 10th evening, the official Weibo account of the China Giant Panda Protection Research Center (@ChinaGiantPandaProtectionResearchCenter) issued a statement saying that the cub at the Shizeping Base of the Panda Center experienced an accident, which was 'Lu Lu', born on August 10, 2019, and died due to strangulation caused by 'full capacity ball rope entanglement'
The statement said that due to the late-night incident, the night shift patrol personnel failed to notice the abnormality, and will draw lessons from this event, further strengthen the safety inspection and evaluation of the safety of enrichment items for young pandas, and completely eliminate the security hazards in the park; at the same time, strengthen night shift patrols to prevent the occurrence of such events.
Video: News Channel
Below is the full statement:
April 9, 2020, the cub 'Lu Lu' (born on August 10, 2019) of the Shizeping Base of the Panda Center died due to strangulation caused by 'full capacity ball rope entanglement' Around 2 a.m. on the 9th'Lu Lu' was playing on a wooden frame with hanging toys in the outdoor play area of the Shizeping Base Panda Kindergarten, and then the cub wrapped the rope of the hanging ball around its neck, began to struggle, and after a few minutes, the cub stopped struggling and died. Because the incident happened late at night, and it was difficult to distinguish the cub's curled position from the rest position on the wooden frame, the night shift patrol personnel failed to notice the abnormality. That morning, after the nursery staff visited the nursery point, they observed the play area and saw that most of the panda cubs were resting, and did not find anything unusual (the deceased cub was facing away from the viewing area, and it was difficult to see its face from a distance, it looked like it was hanging on the wooden frame to rest).The keeper did not discover 'Lu Lu''s neck and forelimbs wrapped in the hanging ball rope until he entered the keeper's play area at around 9:00 a.m., through contact and observation, it was initially determined that it had died, and samples were collected for examination.We are deeply saddened by the departure of the giant panda 'Lu Lu'. This incident also fully recognizes that there are certain omissions in the safety management of giant pandas. We will draw lessons from this event, further strengthen the safety inspection and evaluation of the safety of enrichment items for young pandas, completely eliminate the security hazards in the park; at the same time, strengthen night shift patrols to prevent the occurrence of such events.
Weibo screenshot
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