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Japan's Oldest Giant Panda Dies

By MARI YAMAGUCHI,
AP
Posted: 2008-04-30 15:00:23
TOKYO (April 30) - Japan's oldest giant panda, Ling Ling, a longtime star at Tokyo's largest zoo and a symbol of friendship with China, died Wednesday of heart failure, zookeepers said.

Ling Ling was 22 years and seven months old, equivalent to about 70 human years, the Ueno Zoo said. It said he was the fifth-oldest known male panda in the world.

Ling Ling began losing his appetite and strength last August because of his old age, and recently suffered from heart and kidney problems, zoo official Motoyasu Ida said.

Keepers and visitors mourned the panda, which was the zoo's most popular attraction for more than 15 years. Public broadcaster NHK showed many visitors writing condolence messages, with some brushing away tears.

Ling Ling's portrait was displayed inside his cage, along with bouquets and offerings of his favorite bamboo shoots.

An autopsy found he died of heart failure, Ida said.

Fukuji Sugimoto, chief panda keeper at the zoo, said he felt something was wrong as soon as he entered Ling Ling's cage early Wednesday.

"He always turned around when I called 'Ling Ling.' This morning he didn't. I rushed to him and touched his head, and he was already cold. That broke my heart," Sugimoto said. "He was such a darling."

Ling Ling died just one day after the zoo withdrew him from public view because of his worsening health.

Born at China's Beijing Zoo in 1985, Ling Ling came to Tokyo in 1992. He had traveled to Mexico three times in recent years for unsuccessful mating.

Ling Ling was the only giant panda owned by Japan, with eight other pandas elsewhere in the country all loaned by China, according to media reports.

With Ling Ling's loss, Ueno Zoo is without a panda for the first time since 1972, when the first panda couple arrived from China to mark the signing of bilateral peace treaty.

Ida said the zoo is currently consulting with the Foreign Ministry about obtaining another panda from China.

The regional newspaper Tokyo Shimbun reported Tuesday that Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda may ask Chinese President Hu Jintao to consider loaning a pair of pandas to Japan.

Giant pandas are one of the world's rarest animals, with about 1,600 living in the wild in China, mostly in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2008-04-30 15:00:23
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Recent Comments

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90 comments

mpeknyc 01:33:25 PM May 01 2008

aww poor panda. but hey at least he lived up to 20 years. i love panda's they have always been my favorite animal ... rip Ling Ling.

mpeknyc 01:32:28 PM May 01 2008

aww poor panda. but hey at least he lived up to 20 years. i love panda's they have always been my favorite animal ... rip Ling Ling.

jamsca 09:55:33 AM May 01 2008

4 billion humans or maybe 100 pandas left in the wild. YOU TELL ME WHOS LIFE IS MORE PRECIOUS. NOT THE DISGUSTING HUMANS RUINING THIS WORLD

jamsca 09:54:01 AM May 01 2008

4 billion humans or maybe 100 pandas left in the wild. YOU TELL ME WHOS LIFE IS MORE PRECIOUS. NOT THE DISGUSTING HUMANS RUINING THIS WORLD

jdnaskip 09:36:59 AM May 01 2008

soldiers are at war because they decided to join the army... when u join the army, there is a chance of u having to go to war. just because there is a war going on does not minimize my concerns about other things in this world... i, too, have people over there... and its not cool at all... but just because they r there does not mean i cannot remember the 5th oldest panda in the world!! HOLLA BACK LING LING! stuff like that brings a smile to my face... not guns and war. anytime something trivial happens, people are always hollering about the war, the war... hell, what about the millions of homeless people in our country... racism which still is lurking in some areas (JENA 6!)... when the soldiers make it back home, because by gods grace i pray they do, they will return to another war... the war amongst us citizens fighting for humanity... and i pray they wont get killed here either.

jdnaskip 09:35:57 AM May 01 2008

soldiers are at war because they decided to join the army... when u join the army, there is a chance of u having to go to war. just because there is a war going on does not minimize my concerns about other things in this world... i, too, have people over there... and its not cool at all... but just because they r there does not mean i cannot remember the 5th oldest panda in the world!! HOLLA BACK LING LING! stuff like that brings a smile to my face... not guns and war. anytime something trivial happens, people are always hollering about the war, the war... hell, what about the millions of homeless people in our country... racism which still is lurking in some areas (JENA 6!)... when the soldiers make it back home, because by gods grace i pray they do, they will return to another war... the war amongst us citizens fighting for humanity... and i pray they wont get killed here either.

navy9196 08:00:37 AM May 01 2008

Pandas have always been a favorite of mine.... its a sad day to think all of the ignorant comments people make ... I believe in hunting, but its the ignorace of people that cause all of the bad publicity of the sport / tradition. I have always given to animal rights groups as its the humans who are destroying the animals way of life by destroying habitats and polluting the world. I just feel there needs to be more compassion in the world....

pop1023 07:52:14 AM May 01 2008

For all you animal lover / animal rights fruit loops ....the Panda dying IS indeed a sad thing -- but put things in perspective when we got 4,000 plus soldiers and counting dead in Iraq - my brother being one of them ( not dead but fighting).

Kind of puts Pandas at a little bit less of a priority -- ya know ??

mrflohr7431 07:44:58 AM May 01 2008

fire up the grill wheres the mustard

ekseem 07:37:25 AM May 01 2008

what the world needs are more pandas and fewer people

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