Posted on October, 04 2010

A giant panda at a zoo in Kobe, Japan, died of asphyxiation, the State Forestry Administration said on Sunday.The 14-year-old male panda, named Kou Kou, died on Sept 9 at the Oji Zoo when Japanese veterinarians drugged him to collect sperm for artificial insemination. Chinese government immediately sent a panel of experts to Japan for an investigation and found that after receiving anaesthetic, Kou Kou suffocated when "objects in its stomach went into its lungs, leading to asphyxiation", according to Xinhua News Agency. Earlier reports suggested experts believed the death might have been caused by an overdose of sedatives and were questioning why Japanese veterinarians were extracting semen outside the animal's mating period. Settlement of the panda's death is under way in accordance with the Sino-Japanese panda breeding agreement signed in 1999. According to the agreement, Japan will pay $500,000 in compensation to China if a panda dies due to human error. Xing Xing was loaned to Japan in 2002 from the Wolong China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center to replace a male panda for a 10-year breeding agreement between the China Wildlife Conservation Association and Kobe's Oji Zoo.