The Taipei Zoo’s male giant panda Tuan Tuan (團團) died in his sleep Saturday afternoon after veterinarians administered a larger-than-normal dose of sedatives to relieve him of his suffering after he was struck by more seizures amid failing bodily functions.
In a statement, the zoo said that 18-year-old Tuan Tuan suffered three more waves of epileptic fits in the early hours of Saturday at 1:05 a.m., 1:56 a.m., and 3:54 a.m.
Despite being given medication, the panda still had intermittent seizures, which finally stopped at 7:03 a.m. after veterinarians increased the medication dosage.
The zoo said that the anti-epileptic drug given to Tuan Tuan was short-acting and was barely efficacious against his worsening condition, adding that this was compounded by a loss of appetite.
It reported on Friday that the panda had suffered four seizures the previous day and was placed in intensive care.
Tuan Tuan was briefly awake Saturday morning, but he just lay prone on the ground, too weak to eat or even move, the zoo said.
A medical team sedated the panda before subjecting him to a computerized tomography scan and checked his vital signs, which both showed that his bodily functions had no chance of improving and that he could no longer live a quality life, it said.
Following an hour-long meeting, the team decided to continue giving Tuan Tuan sedatives to alleviate his physical pain, it said.
Tuan Tuan’s heart stopped beating at 1:48 p.m., it said.
Lai Yen-hsueh (賴燕雪), the Taipei Zoo’s chief veterinarian, said the lesion in Tuan Tuan’s brain, which was diagnosed in September, had grown, and his hepatic functions were deteriorating due to ingestion of medicine.
Taipei Zoo spokesman Eric Tsao (曹先紹) said that before Tuan Tuan was subject to the CT scan and vital signs assessment, the medical team had decided to let him “remain in a deep sleep” if the results showed no possibility of his health improving, he said.
Asked to clarify, he said that veterinarians had given Tuan Tuan a larger-than-normal dose of sedatives to “make sure he would not wake up to more suffering.”
The zoo would arrange a farewell ceremony that would showcase a roundup of Tuan Tuan’s life, the date of which would be announced in due time, he said.
Tuan Tuan began having seizures in August, but had not suffered from any epileptic fits in September and October, which provided the zoo management with some optimism, he said.
Unfortunately, the panda began having frequent seizures again this month, which showed no signs of respite despite the zoo’s best efforts, he said.
It was not easy to let Tuan Tuan go, and the zoo management had held at least three meetings to consider its options before making the decision, he said.
Judging by Tuan Tuan’s physical condition, even if the panda had awoken from sedation, he would have been in agony, and the zoo felt that keeping him in a sedated state would be in his best interests, he said.
The zoo is considering preparing a mounted specimen of Tuan Tuan, he said.
Tuan Tuan’s cause of death will be announced following an autopsy, he said.
Wang I-min (王怡敏), head of the animals division at the Taipei Zoo, said the zoo had remained in contact with panda experts in China to inform them of the methods used to treat Tuan Tuan.
The zoo will discuss the possibility of securing more pandas and mating partners for Tuan Tuan’s two female cubs, Yuan Zai (圓仔) and Yuan Bao (圓寶) at the Annual Conference of the Chinese Committee of Giant Panda Breeding Techniques in China, Wang said.
Shortly after Tuan Tuan’s death, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) wrote in a social media post: “Thank you, Tuan Tuan, for documenting the life and laughter of the Taiwanese people. You have enriched the Taipei Zoo and our memories. Farewell.”
Taiwanese netizens also wrote comments mourning Tuan Tuan on local social media such as “Tuan Tuan will live on in our memories,” and “Thank you, Tuan Tuan, for being a part of our youth.”
Tuan Tuan is one of two giant pandas China gave to Taiwan in 2008 as part of a cross-strait animal exchange program to mark warming relations with Taiwan at that time.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel