Eats, shocks and leaves as panda meets electric fence
HE has had a run of bad luck since being sent to Edinburgh Zoo in an attempt to start a family more than seven years ago.
Now giant panda Yang Guang has suffered an electric shock from the fence in his new enclosure.
Visitors watched in dismay as the zoo’s popular resident received a nasty jolt that sent him scurrying away to his den.
Yang Guang – Chinese for Sunshine – was moved into the new enclosure at the beginning of the month along with the zoo’s other giant panda Tian Tian – meaning Sweetie – to protect them from the noise of construction work near their former home.
According to the zoo, the charged perimeter was installed to keep both animals and the public safe.
Officials said Yang Guang was shocked only once as he adjusted to his new surroundings.
A visitor told the Edinburgh Evening News: ‘I saw the male panda try to climb the fence and he got electrocuted. You could tell he was scared because he ran off into his den.’
Staff at the zoo are opening the pandas’ new home to the public gradually, to allow the animals time to settle in. They were moved due to the redevelopment of the former Corstorphine Hospital next door.
Last year, Yang Guang had both testicles removed due to tumours, dealing a blow to breeding hopes. The zoo said the operation followed talks with British and Chinese specialists.
It insisted the tumours had not been ‘a factor’ in Yang Guang so far failing to father what would be the UK’s first giant panda cub. The pandas arrived in 2011 on a ten-year loan as part of a £2.6billion trade deal.
Charlotte Macdonald, of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said: ‘Like farm animals, zoo animals tend to learn very quickly to avoid electric fences, which are there for their safety and to protect the public.’