- Sputnik International
Asia
Find top stories and features from Asia and the Pacific region. Keep updated on major political stories and analyses from Asia and the Pacific. All you want to know about China, Japan, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan, Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Panda Mom, Cub Healthy Despite Abuse Accusations

© AFP 2023 / MOHD RASFAN One-year-old female giant panda cub Nuan Nuan reacts inside her enclosure during joint birthday celebrations for the panda and its ten-year-old mother Liang Liang at the National Zoo in Kuala Lumpur on August 23, 2016.
One-year-old female giant panda cub Nuan Nuan reacts inside her enclosure during joint birthday celebrations for the panda and its ten-year-old mother Liang Liang at the National Zoo in Kuala Lumpur on August 23, 2016. - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Chinese and US panda authorities have confirmed that two pandas at a US zoo are in good health following accusations on social media that the mother and cub were being starved and abused.

Meixiang and 2-year-old Beibei, pandas living at the National Zoological Park in Washington DC, are in perfect health, a zoo employee media on Tuesday.

Panda experts in Sichuan Province previously refuted the claims, explaining Meixiang was exhibiting normal behavior. 

The responses counter accusations from Chinese social media users of abuse after previous livestream videos showed mother Meixiang, 19, scratching the walls of her habitat and wailing. 

The US-born giant panda Baobao made its official debut on Friday after a one-month quarantine period at the Dujiangyan base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Southwest China's Sichuan Province - Sputnik International
Panda's Untimely Death Prompts Enthusiasts to Criticize Sino-US Project

Other clips from Friday show Meixiang scavenging for bits of bamboo to eat, sparking outrage online and accusations the panda was starved. 

The Weibo hashtag "pandas in the US abused" garnered more than 54.6 million views as of press time. 

However, in a Weibo post on Saturday, the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda explained Meixiang was menstruating, which is marked by a reduction in appetite. 

A livestream from the zoo on Monday showed mother and son playing happily as a crowd of visitors looked on, the paper said. 


This article was originally published in the Global Times.
Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала