For the last couple of days, a unsettling story of possible mistreatment by a zoo, involving a panda has been circulating around the internet. A concerned citizen posted the story of their recent visit to see Yongba, a female panda that is living at the Safari Park Shenzhen Zoo. (cannot guarantee link) They were alarmed at how the zoo was exploiting Yongba by having her pose for food to make money. They took photos and posted them along with the account of their visit on one of China's most popular online forums, Tianya.con. They also questioned whether the zoo was addressing Yongba's medical and dietary needs as a elderly panda. The first photo was just taken at Shenzhen zoo and the second photo in 1995 while she was living at the Ya'an base in Sichuan County.
Shenzhen is a city in China that sets just north of Hong Kong.
Yongba is 25 years old. In panda years, that is very old. She is the mother of Tian Tian, the proud father of Tai Shan who lives along with Mei Xiang, at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
Apparently, the good people at the CCRCGP (China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda) as seen in this photo of them at the rail, felt they needed to take a look for themselves and flew in to see Yongba and talk to the zoo staff. I have not seen anything reported yet as to what the group from Wolong found. The Shanghai Daily gives a full report of what has taken place so far. I will keep you posted of anything new that develops. We wish the very best for Yongba.
UPDATE: January 8, 2009; 10:06 AM est
The two panda experts who came from Wolong to investigate "living conditions" of the giant panda at the Shenzhen Zoo, will file their report and present it to the Wolong Giant Panda's Leadership before they release it to the public.
During their visit, they took photos of the enclosures and Yongba, they asked about the giant panda's diet, stool, nursing and reviewed how the zoo was monitoring her behavior through a kind of record keeping.
They commented on the concern of the internet users of the panda is understandable, but many users do not necessarily understand the habits of giant pandas and feeding techniques. Often when the perspective of human beings to look at and speculate on the giant panda and ther animal preferences, there is often some misunderstanding. They said that the often encounter similar doubts in Wolong.
