Tokyo's panda cub died on July 11, 2012
The panda cub who was born at Ueno Zoo on July 5, 2012 died of pneumonia on the morning of July 11, 2012.
The birth had created excitement across Japan, and the nation was mourning the baby’s death.
A keeper at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo found the male panda cub, lying belly up, without breathing, on Shin Shin’s chest.
He was pronounced dead an hour later, after resuscitation efforts failed.
In a news conference broadcast live, Yutaka Fukuda, the zoo’s chief panda keeper, said milk had accidentally entered the baby’s airway while his mother was breast-feeding. Traces of milk were found later in the cub’s bronchial tube.
The cub had been kept in an incubator for three days before being sent back to Shin Shin on Tuesday.
“They peacefully spent the night and the baby was doing fine just this morning,” Fukuda said, tears welling up in his eyes. “It happened so suddenly, and it’s such a pity.”
The panda was the first to be born at the zoo since 1988 and was conceived naturally.
The zoo said it would set up a space for visitors to lay flowers and pray for the dead panda.
Source: Ueno Zoo
