China's forestry authorities vowed Tuesday to stop any disqualified zoos from borrowing giant pandas for commercial exhibition, after several pandas were injured or died due to negligence.
An official from the State Forestry Administration (SFA) told the Global Times on Tuesday that authorities will conduct inspection of zoos and pay special attention to those who lack sophisticated technology and management to take care of pandas in their custody.
Those who are found disqualified will be banned from exhibiting pandas, according to the SFA.
The SFA had launched a similar campaign in May 2014 and June 2015 respectively to inspect zoos if they were disqualified to raise a panda or were focusing too much on profit and ignoring the panda's living conditions.
Several zoos were barred from displaying pandas during the campaign, according to the website of the SFA.
Last week, a zoo in Lanzhou, Northwest China's Gansu Province was blamed for alleged mistreatment of a panda after photos showing "blood" on her back went viral online, causing public uproar.
Though the zoo explained on Sunday that the wound was a small cut from a bamboo strike and the veterinarians had been sent to treat the animal, the incident triggered wide concern as to whether the pandas rented and presented by zoos across China are treated well.
Several deaths of pandas have been reported in recent years, including a giant panda named Jinyi from Zhengzhou Zoo in Central China's Henan Province, who died of acute gastroenteritis due to the zoo's poor sanitary condition in February 2014.
The SFA also disqualified the Zhengzhou Zoo from displaying any pandas and ordered it to send Longsheng, the other panda at the zoo, to the China Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan Province.
However, the SFA said that most of the pandas died naturally, and the deaths caused by poor management are very rare, as the regulator has strict standards to authorize the renting of a panda.
