http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8jT3vLxnD8
( Sorry if the video quality isn't that good.)
I came across this video where it showed Yongba, a 26 year old panda who was banging on the metal door. She look so tired and have no energy at all, unlike other pandas her age. (1 year for a panda is similar to 3 to 4 years for a human)
Apparently, she retired and settled at Shenzhen Wild Animal Park Zoo. The zoo keepers would only give her milk twice and steamed bread made of corn thrice everyday. No nutrients or whatsoever was added to the milk. According to a panda nanny, old pandas should not drink milk as it is bad for their bodies. Moreover, old pandas tends to collect water which cause their stomachs to swell so they are required to take medication and other health products. However, Yongba was given none of this. Shenzhen Wild Animal Park Zoo doesn't provide Yongba with any regular heath check-ups and does not show any concern in the amount of food Yongba was eating.
Every 10 to 20 minutes, Yongba will go beat on the metal door which is where the workers will deliver her food through. When there are tourists who are willing to take pictures with Yongba with fee, workers will put Yongba to the outer cage. The workers will give Yongba two small apple after every picture. It is suppose to be normal for old pandas to sleep most of the time. However, knowing that it got to entertain the visitors and would be able to get two small apples for a treat, it hardly sleeps.
When Yongba was younger, she contributed by producing 10 off springs. And now when she grew old, the people doesn't take any value in her and take good care of her. It really hurts me to see that such things are happening in the world. Why can't people show respect to animals like how they do to mankind? Even after she grew old and was suppose to live her remaining life comfortably, the workers try to squeeze whatever profit they could get from making Yongba taking pictures with tourists. This kind of behaviour is definitely not acceptable.
Source:
http://www.chinasmack.com/2009/pictures/panda-in-shenzhen-zoo-sick-hungry-exploited.html
This is so shocking! Giant Pandas are already critically endangered and yet these people can still be so heartless and abuse them :( Moreover, the abused panda is already extremely old, meaning that it will need more care and attention, which it did not receive.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this is because of the lack of awareness that the giant pandas are endangered. Also, the zoo should have hired specialised zookeepers who know how to take care of the pandas to ensure that the pandas are well taken care of.
This goes to show that more can be done to ensure the survival of pandas. The government/organizations ought to give more education on this or they can even start campaigns. We can't just depend on government or organisations themselves to save the pandas. We need the co-operation of every single citizen in this world. Together, we.can make it a better place for the pandas (:
-Zhou Zhou
As mentioned by Zhou Zhou, it is really shocking to see pandas being abused, especially when they're already endangered.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this may be a sad and terrible experience, at least it is one which we would not forget! This means that we would be able to learn from this experience and be more careful when handling animals. In addition, this would add on those zookeepers' and researchers' experience, preventing such incidents from occurring again.
However, with that being said,I feel that they should have taken precautions and think twice before making decisions, instead of regretting after the incident which will not change anything.
-Lin Wei
Woah. I didn't think about animal abuse as a reason for conserving Pandas! I just thought they were endangered because they bamboo forests were disappearing. Tourism is affecting these pandas lives in a bad way. It's ok to keep pandas in a zoo for captive breeding if they are treated well but YongBa is obviously being abused ):
ReplyDelete1. Do you think that problems like this is caused by the lack of experienced workers? Why?
ReplyDelete2. What do you think that organisations and government can do to improve the situation? Why?
-Lin Wei
1. I don't think it is caused by workers' lack of experienced. In my opinion, I feel that the workers or the zoo is just greedy for money and do not care or thought about the feelings of the pandas at all.
ReplyDelete2. I feel that the government can definitely transfer to Yongba to another zoo with better trained zoo keepers and specialists. On top of that, the government should train and educate the workers there. The workers are probably acting this way because of the pressure the boss of the zoo is giving them. As we can see from the video, Yongba enclosure is nothing like what we saw in the river safari. This may be due to the zoo not doing so well in sales so with what little visitors they may have, they try to earn as much as they can. The government can assist them financially, allowing them to give what the animals deserve.
- Alicia
You mentioned that 'When Yongba was younger, she contributed by producing 10 off springs. And now when she grew old, the people doesn't take any value in her and take good care of her.'The main point of breeding Yongba in captivity is just for her to reproduce. Now that they have achieved their goal, why do you think they should continue to care for Yongba?
ReplyDelete-ZZ
Now that Yongba had done her part and contributed, all the more they should care for her. According to some news article, Dong Dong Ming Ming who were about the same age as her and Ba Si who is even older than Yongba, looked more lively and gave a total different level of energy. This just to show that they were treated better and was taken care with respect. Caring for the pandas even when they have grown older and cannot help in anyway, is the least the zoo can do to show gratitude for what they had done.
Delete