Panda 'Jinyi' dies from disease in Zhengzhou zoo

The Zhengzhou Zoo in Henan Province has confirmed that a panda referred to as "missing" by local media was in fact dead, and has come under fire for housing the animal in an unsanitary environment.

At a press conference Thursday morning, the zoo said the panda "Jinyi" died last Sunday morning after refusing to eat for two days.

A preliminary investigation showed that the death was caused by a parvovirus infection, the zoo said.

However, the Dahe Daily, a Henan-based newspaper, cited citizens as saying the day before that the panda was referred to missing from the zoo.

A staffer at the zoo had said the panda had been sent to Sichuan, but he didn't know the reason, the newspaper said.

Reporters on Wednesday contacted the zoo's animal raising department and learned that "Jinyi" had become unstable ahead of rutting season, usually in April, and had been sent to a base in Sichuan for mating.

But Heng Yi, of the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda in Sichuan, said on Wednesday that he was unaware of the panda being sent to Sichuan.

The Sichuan-based China West City Daily reported later that night that "Jinyi" had died of lung and heart failure caused by acute hemorrhagic gastroenteritis last Sunday.

Reporters of Chinanews.com went to the Zhengzhou Zoo on Thursday and found a large amount of excrement on the floor where another panda named "Wenyu" lives.

Many visitors wore masks to stave off the smell.

One visitor attributed the death of "Jinyi" to the bad environment, saying "It's too messy and dirty."

Wenyu and Jinyi, two pandas younger than four years old, came to the Zhengzhou Zoo in 2011.