2023-04-20 08:01:20
BANGKOK – Lin Hui, the last remaining panda specimen donated by China in Thailand, died Wednesday at the age of 21 at the Chiang Mai Zoo in the north of the country, with no cause yet known.
On its Facebook page, the zoo authorities indicated that Lui Hui, a female panda, began to feel unwell on Tuesday and died this morning, after which a group of Thai and Chinese experts are going to carry out an autopsy to find out the reasons for the death.
On Tuesday, netizens uploaded videos to social media showing the panda bleeding from its nose amid severe air pollution in the north due largely to fires set by farmers.
In 2019, the bear’s companion, Chuang Chuang, also died suddenly at the age of 19 in Chiang Mai due to cardiac arrest, sparking a stir on social media in Thailand and China.
Both giant pandas (“Ailuropoda melanoleuca”) were born at the Chengdu Panda Research Center in Sichuan Province of China; Lin Hui on September 28, 2001 and Chuang Chuang on August 6, 2000.
The pandas were handed over to Thailand in October 2003 as part of the so-called “panda diplomacy” with which China has sought since the 1960s to project a kinder image and strengthen ties with other countries by temporarily handing over the animals.
The two pandas had a cub in 2009 through artificial insemination, a bear named Ling Ping, and for several years the family appeared on a 24-hour television show.
Ling Ping was sent to China in 2013, and under the agreement, Thailand was to return Chuang Chuang and Lin Hui to their home country in 2013, but the deal was renewed for a 10-year period until 2023.
The average giant panda lifespan is around 15-20 years in the wild and up to 30 years in captivity.
This video went viral in China.
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