Lin Hui, panda on loan to Thailand, dies suddenly
BANGKOK (AP) — A giant panda on long-term loan from China died in a zoo in northern Thailand on Wednesday, six months before she was due to return home, officials from the Chiang Mai Zoo said.
The cause of Lin Hui’s death was not immediately clear but she appeared to have become ill Tuesday morning, and her nose was seen bleeding when she laid down after a meal, said Wutthichai Muangmun, the zoo director.
She was rushed into the care of a joint Thai-Chinese veterinarian team but her condition deteriorated and she died early Wednesday morning, he said.
Tewarat Vejmanat, a veterinarian who spoke at a news conference broadcast live on the zoo’s Facebook page, said the panda, who had a health check every day, was already at an advanced age at 21, and there had been no sign of illness or any difference in her behavior before she became sick.
“China is saddened by the death of the giant panda Lin Hui,” Wang Wenbin, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said in Beijing.
Wang said that after China learned about the panda’s illness it “immediately organized experts to guide the Thai side to carry out rescue work through video link, but unfortunately did not save her life.” He added that the Chinese authorities would soon set up a team of experts to carry out a joint investigation into the cause of death.
Lin Hui’s male mate, Chuang Chuang, who was kept with her at the Chiang Mai Zoo, died there in 2019 at the age of 19. The couple arrived in Chiang Mai in 2003 on a 10-year loan that was later extended for another 10 years.
While the loan was ostensibly for research and conservation purposes, it was generally regarded as an act of friendship by China, which has sent pandas to many countries in what is regarded as a striking example of soft power diplomacy.