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Emotional send-off for oldest panda in captivity
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THE world’s oldest giant panda in captivity has died at the ripe old age of 37 — more than 100 in human terms — her handlers in China said yesterday as they gave Basi an emotional send-off.
The Strait Giant Panda Research and Exchange Center in southeast China, where she has lived for 33 years, bid a heartfelt farewell to the bear, with a memorial service that featured Basi’s body surrounded by yellow flowers and the tip of her tongue sticking playfully out.
“With a heavy heart, we solemnly announce today that the original model of Pan Pan, the mascot for the first Asian Games (in China, 1990), and an angel of friendship both at home and abroad, giant panda star Basi died at 8:50am on September 13, 2017, at the age of 37,” the center said.
White roses, arranged in the shape of a heart, were also laid in front of Basi’s favorite tree.
“She once brought us joy here, and we wish to leave the fragrance here for her,” said Xiu Yunfang, deputy director of the facility in Fuzhou City.
Basi outlived most of her peers by nearly two decades — pandas in the wild have an average lifespan of about 20 years, though those in captivity generally live longer.
She died of old age, liver cirrhosis and kidney failure, said the center, which also serves as a zoo known as Fuzhou Panda World.
Besides her longevity, Basi was beloved for her athletic feats, which became the inspiration for the 1990 Asian Games official mascot.
She could ride a bike, dunk a ball through a lowered basketball hoop, lift weights, and twirl a baton in her forepaws while balancing on a see-sawing wooden board. Basi also wowed US crowds in 1987 while on a six-month loan to the San Diego Zoo.
“Basi has left, but her beautiful image and Basi spirit will forever be in our hearts,” center director Chen Yucun said in a eulogy, describing her as “legendary.”
Basi became something of a celebrity in China over the years and has been photographed with first lady Peng Liyuan.
Her birthdays were often celebrated with gusto. For her 35th, the zoo erected a two-meter stone statue of her, and earlier this year she dug into a birthday cake while wearing a red crown.
“Such a big loss for the panda world. Thank you for the sweet memories,” was a comment on Weibo.
Basi was rescued from the wild after falling into a river in southwest China when she was around 4 years old and had lived at the Fuzhou facility since. She was named after the valley where she was found.
Giant pandas have a notoriously low reproductive rate, a key factor — along with habitat loss — in their status as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of threatened species.
Basi also broke ground as the first panda to have cataract surgery and the first to be diagnosed with hypertension.
Her body will be preserved for display in a “Basi Museum” that is being planned for the Fuzhou zoo.
Last December, the world’s oldest captive male panda, Pan Pan, died in southwest China at the age of 31.
He sired more than 130 descendants — a quarter of all the captive-bred pandas on the planet, officials said.
Giant pandas live mainly in the mountains of Sichuan and neighboring Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.
The number of pandas living in the wild was fewer than 2,000, and around 400 were living in captivity, as of the end of 2013, according to China’s State Forestry Administration.
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