2024-02-13 09:20:02
BEIJING (AP) — Don’t give food to pandas. That was the rule that a man banned for life from one of China’s main panda centers appeared to have broken following throwing unidentified “objects” into an enclosure on Monday.
The statement from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding did not identify the objects, although it said that feeding the animals might harm them and that the panda in question appeared to be in normal condition. The visitor was identified as a 53-year-old man surnamed Gao.
“In view of Gao’s uncivilized visit and his behavior that might harm the giant pandas, he is banned from entering the panda base (…) for life,” the statement said.
The center has imposed lifetime bans on others for feeding pandas. A man who gave bamboo shoots to panda cubs in an activity zone and a woman who gave them peanuts were expelled last August.
Other visitors have been expelled for between one and five years for crimes such as throwing water at the pandas or hitting the pandas’ glass hard, according to media reports.
The giant panda has become a national symbol of China, and specimens are donated to zoos around the world. President Xi Jinping described them last year during a visit to the United States as “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American people.”
The breeding base in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province is a popular tourist destination. Last year, 34 pandas were born at two bases in Sichuan, including Chengdu. Some made a recent appearance this month within the Lunar New Year celebrations.
“The national treasure has strict dietary regulations,” the base wrote in its message, which asked visitors to be civil and set an example.
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