Zoo tries to lift panda's spirits with new swing

[Photo by Wang Yuheng/for China Daily]

A TV and a swing are among the facilities that have been set up in a giant panda's enclosure at a zoo in Yunnan province in efforts to cheer her up after her last pal returned to her hometown last month.

Sijia, a panda living at the Yunnan Wildlife Park in Kunming, started to feel low after her friend Meiqian returned to Ya'an, Sichuan province, on March 31. In the first several days after Meiqian's departure, Sijia ignored the keepers and was not interested in her food.

In May 2008, the pandas were displaced from their homes in Sichuan after a magnitude-8 earthquake struck the province, affecting the animals' habitats and threatening their safety.

Three pandas - Sijia, Meiqian and Qianqian - were then brought to the Kunming wildlife park's panda house, which is located in a mountain valley and features a 400-sq-m playground.

In 2012, when the pandas were scheduled to return to Sichuan, Kunming residents petitioned to let the animals stay. But still Qianqian left for home that year, followed by Meiqian in March, leaving Sijia alone, said Bai Tuo, a senior keeper at the park.