China will send experts to investigate the unexplained death of popular giant panda Chuang Chuang at the Chiang Mai zoo in Thailand.
According to Chinese news agency Xinhua, experts from the China Conservation and Research Center in China will partner with their counterparts in Thailand and conduct and investigation to determine the cause of death of the giant panda.
The unexplained death of the giant panda caused outrage on Chinese social media, with some users accusing Thailand of not properly taking care of the animal. The 19-year-old Chuang Chuang has been on loan at the Chiang Mai zoo since 2003.
The average life expectancy of China-native giant pandas in captivity is between 25 to 30 years. They have been previously classified as endangered but the International Union for Conservation of Nature reclassified them to vulnerable after an increase in population.
In the past decades, China has been loaning these giant panda bears to different countries around the world as part of its initiative to strengthen diplomatic relations. As of 2019, China loans giant pandas to 27 zoos in 21 countries, including the US, Russia, and United Kingdom.
The country requires extensive reporting about the loaned animals so Chuang Chuang's sudden death has been widely covered by China's state media.
Users on Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform, expressed their concerns over the incident. One user wrote "Thailand is not suitable for raising pandas" while another said "they don't treat animals as well as we think."
Because of Chuang Chuang's demise, some are calling for the return of Lin Hui, the remaining female panda in Chiang Mai, to China.
Chuang Chuang gained popularity several years ago when Chiang Mai zoo personnel tried various ways to boost his sex drive after he failed to show any sexual interest in Lin Hui. He was on a low-carb diet and shown videos of mating pandas but to no avail. They eventually decided to use artificial insemination and Lin Hui gave birth in 2009.
