Staff have denied causing the death of a female giant panda at Zhengzhou Zoo, Henan Province, through mistreatment. The panda, Jinyi, was 7 years old, making her a young adult in panda terms, and was transferred from Sichuan Province to the zoo in May 2011.

The zoo held a press conference on Thursday to announce the death of the panda to the public and refute accusations of mistreatment that had been made online.

Li Chaojun, head of the zoo's management office, said at the press conference that the panda died of acute hemorrhagic gastroenteritis that caused massive hemorrhage and acute cardiopulmonary failure, according to an initial diagnosis based on the autopsy.

Around noon on February 7, Jinyi began to refuse to take food, and she began to vomit on February 8, according to Li.

Li Caiwu, a vet from the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda, said that around 10 pm on February 8, he and another worker received a notice to go to Zhengzhou, but before the plane taking off, he received the message that Jinyi had died at 0:40 am on February 9.

After learning of the panda's death, some then blamed the zoo for maltreating her. There were claims online that the sanitation in the panda pen was very bad, with food and excrement mixed together, and that because the zoo didn't want to spend money on expensive bamboo shoots, Jinyi was only fed on corn bread.

Li Chaojun claimed that the zoo in winter fed the animal with fresh bamboo transported from Hubei Province, and that the research center had paid the costs.

There have also been accusations, denied by the zoo, that the temperature in Zhengzhou was unsuitable.

Li Caiwu said that in the past three years, the panda had adjusted to local weather, and this was not linked to the death.

Global Times