Giant pandas feed on bamboo at the Dujiangyan base of the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Panda in Dujiangyan, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Feb. 15, 2023.(Photo: Xinhua)

As the giant panda loan agreement for female panda Ya Ya between the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens (CAZG) and the US Memphis Zoo will come to an end in April, Chinese netizens petitioned for an earlier return of the elderly panda which has been suffering from a skin disease and other health conditions.  

Chinese netizens have been very concerned about Ya Ya after the sudden death of its male partner Le Le at the US zoo on February 1, since the giant panda couple has been suspected of being improperly fed and raised for years.  

According to US volunteers’ observations on Ya Ya, it has been suffering from multiple conditions including malnutrition, diarrhea and abnormally stereotyped behaviors apart from extensive dermatosis, media reported. 

A source close to the CAZG said Chinese experts have set off to the US to negotiate matters related to the return of Ya Ya during their five to seven days’ stay in the US, according to Top App. 

According to the source, the veterinarian experts and zookeepers will check Ya Ya’s health condition first and then propose suggestions to the zoo on feeding the giant panda. 

According to staffers from the Beijing Zoo where Ya Ya was born in 2000, the zoo is still going through the approval procedures for the panda’s return to China, media reported.  

If the procedures go well, Ya Ya will return home earlier, according to the source close to CAZG.  

In April of 2003, Ya Ya from Beijing Zoo and Le Le from Shanghai Zoo arrived at the Memphis Zoo in the US state of Tennessee as a part of a joint conservation and research project between CAZG and the US zoo with an agreement duration of 10 years which was extended by 10 more years in 2013. The arrival of the pair of pandas made the Memphis Zoo the fourth zoo in the US to have pandas on exhibition. 

However, after spending nearly 20 years in the US, Le Le suddenly passed away at the age of 25 just two months before the panda pair’s return home, to which the Memphis Zoo has yet to given an exact cause of its death. 

The Chinese Embassy in the US said Chinese experts would be sent to the US to investigate the cause of its death and to handle the aftermath.  

Speculations about the pair of pandas being improperly fed and raised at the zoo have been circulating online for years since volunteers and animal protection organizations in the US exposed extremely emaciated images of the pair of pandas and their abnormally stereotyped behaviors such as rotating around a pillar.  

Video clips of the pandas circulating on the internet show that the pair of pandas are fed with stale and insufficient bamboo. 

After the hugely popular Japan-born panda Xiang Xiang departed on Tuesday for her home country China where she is set to start her search for a mate, Chinese netizens couldn’t help to compare the dramatically large differences in living circumstances between the two female pandas.  

Comparing the two giant pandas Ya Ya in the US and Xiang Xiang in Japan, one is extremely emaciated with even no old bamboo to eat while the other lived a “luxurious house” and was reluctantly bid farewell by the Japanese panda fans, a Chinese netizen commented. 

Other netizens have petitioned for an earlier return of Ya Ya, worrying the panda won’t make it to the date when it is scheduled to return to China. 

I hope poor Ya Ya and the body of Le Le can return to their home country as soon as possible to have them taken good care of and rest in peace, a netizen said. 

Global Times