Yongba, a 25-year-old panda, in a Shenzhen zoo [Xinhua]

Yongba, a 25-year-old panda,?in a Shenzhen zoo [Xinhua]

Panda keepers in a Shenzhen zoo were being investigated by the zoo authority for allegedly making money by forcing an old panda to pose for photos with visitors.

Safari Park Shenzhen said the keepers would be punished if the accusation was true, West China Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

A panda fan in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, said on Tuesday that Yongba, the zoo's only panda, may have been mistreated, the report said.

The Netizen, who was identified by her online name Qiuyueguisi, posted on Tianya.cn, the country's most popular online forum, that 25-year-old Yongba had two plates of milk and three buns a day and could only enjoy a piece of apple after photos were being taken with visitors.

A set of photos by Qiuyueguisi showed Yongba knocking on the door of her shelter for food and wondering aimlessly in her pen.

Qiuyueguisi said some keepers were forcing the panda to pose for photos with visitors and charging 10 yuan (US$1.45) each time.

The China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Sichuan Province, which lent Yongba to the Shenzhen zoo in 2004, has asked the Shenzhen zoo for an explanation of the incident.

It planned to take Yongba back if it found the animal had been mistreated, according to the report.

(Shanghai Daily January 8, 2009)