A famous Chinese panda breeding centre has been accused of animal cruelty after visitors claimed its bears were so ill their black eye circles had turned white.
Chinese internet users claimed that the pandas had parasites and feared that the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base had not given them proper care.
In response, the research centre, which keeps 113 pandas, said they had noticed the situation and their experts are trying to find out what had caused the loss of the black fur on the bears.
A picture posted by a web user on January 19 shows one panda lying on the ground poor while its black eye circles had turned white. The user said the panda was in Chengdu, China
The user, apparently horrified, claimed that the panda had suffered from skin irritation caused by mites. The viral pictures have caused major concerns among the Chinese public
Three of the pictures were posted on January 19 on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter.
In the pictures, a panda was lying on the ground and its black eye circles had faded.
The Weibo user claimed to have seen the panda at the Chengdu centre, in south-west China, and was horrified by its apparent poor health.
The user also claimed that the ill panda suffered from skin irritation caused by mites, a type of parasite.
Further pictures were posted by another user on January 23 who claimed that the panda in the images was two-year-old Xiao Ya.
The pictures were quickly shared sparking rumours that the state-funded centre had been abusing the animals.
Web users also criticised the centre for forcing pandas to take pictures with tourists to earn money.
Further pictures were posted by another web user who claimed to have visited the panda at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base in south-west China’s Sichuan Province
The panda is said to be Xiao Ya, a two-year-old male bear that is being looked after by the Chengdu centre. The health condition of the previous animals have sparked controversy
The Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base said they had noticed the situation and their experts are trying to find out what had caused the loss of the black fur on the bears
Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base is the world’s largest artificial breeding population of captive pandas.
The base yesterday responded to the allegations amid controversy.
In press conference, the centre denied the allegations of animal abuse. It also said they had not run paid photography programmes with pandas.
Wang Chengdong, a panda expert working for the centre, said they were aware of the situation, but hadn’t found out the cause of the symptoms.
The centre has denied allegation of animal abuse in a press conference yesterday. The above file picture shows one cub walking in the centre situated in south-west China’s Sichuan
An expert from the centre said eight pandas at the centre sustained ‘whitening eye circles’ and were being looked after. The centre has the world’s largest panda population in captivity
Mr Wang said eight pandas at the centre sustained ‘whitening eye circles’, and vets had taken sample from around their eyes for lab examination.
The centre said the eight pandas had healthy appetites and were healthy in all other regards.
The centre added that it was waiting for results of the examination.
This is not the first time Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base has been accused of poor treatment of pandas.
In July last year, three of their workers were caught violently handling bear cubs.
The keepers were seen dragging two bear cubs along the ground, pushing them away and throwing them in the air and on the floor on a CCTV video.
Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda claimed its workers were trying to keep the cubs inside their enclosure and the workers were scratched and bit by the baby pandas during the process.
A spokesman from the centre told the media the two cubs, Yuanyue and Meilan, wanted to follow their playmates and keepers had a hard time keeping them inside the room, and that was when the workers dragged the bears by force.