The death of a giant panda in a Thai zoo has led to an outpouring of grief and anger in China, prompting Beijing’s decision to dispatch a team of experts to investigate the unexpected demise of the animal. Native to China, the life expectancy of a giant panda, a type of bear, is between 25 years to 30 years. The deceased, a male panda named Chuang Chuang, however, was 19.
The cause of his death has not been made public. He died at a zoo in Chiang Mai, the largest city in northern Thailand and his death was announced by the China conservation and research center for the giant panda in Wolong Nature Reserve on its Twitter-like Sina Weibo account earlier this week.
Chuang Chuang, along with female giant panda Lin Hui, was sent to the Chiang Mai Zoo from China’s Sichuan province in 2003 as panda cubs. Since then, the pair had become one of the main attractions at the zoo. The news about death was shared on Weibo millions of times and a hashtag drew almost 250 million views.
The unexplained death and unverified online photos allegedly showing the zoo feeding the bears hard bamboo sticks rather than fresh bamboo upset many Chinese citizens since the giant panda is China’s national animal and occupies a place of pride.
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