The Taipei Zoo yesterday said it would not rule out inviting experts from China’s Sichuan Province after its giant panda Tuan Tuan (團團) was found to have a brain lesion.
The zoo initially thought Tuan Tuan had epilepsy when it had a three-minute seizure on Aug. 23, it told a news conference to give an update on the panda’s condition.
However, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on Sunday showed that the panda had local large-scale necrosis and edema on the left side of its brain, zoo veterinarian Cheng Chiu-hung (鄭秋虹) said, adding that vets were giving it anticonvulsant drugs.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Zoo
“The left cerebral lobe and posterior lobe have local large-scale necrosis and surrounding edema, and the right cerebral lobe has local small-scale edema,” Cheng said.
“We will wait for the results of a fluid analysis before deciding what direction to take with follow-up treatment,” she said.
Given that Tuan Tuan is 18 years old, which is considered old for a panda, a brain condition like this is considered very serious, she said.
Photo courtesy of Taipei Zoo
The seizures Tuan Tuan had were caused by inflammation and infection, so the vets had collected cerebrospinal fluid to determine what infections the panda had, she said.
Some pandas at Sichuan’s Wolong Nature Reserve have also had seizures, but the causes were different in each case, she said.
Despite the severity of Tuan Tuan’s condition, he has recovered about 90 percent of his appetite and daily activity level, zookeeper Chen Yu-yan (陳玉燕).
While Tuan Tuan continues to recover, the zoo would adjust the times when its three other pandas — Yuan Yuan (圓圓) and her two daughters, Yuan Aai (圓仔) and Yuan Bao (圓寶) — are on exhibit, she said.
Asked if Tuan Tuan might die from the disease, Chen said it was too early to say, but the zoo would have a better idea after test results come out.
Asked whether the zoo would also perform an MRI on Yuan Yuan as a precaution, Chen said that MRIs are not done routinely on pandas, but that the animals do undergo annual physical exams, which include an ultrasound, X-ray and blood work.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS