Memphis Zoo responds to Billie Eilish

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — International pop superstar Billie Eilish manufactured waves on social media Tuesday when she introduced her support for a petition by In Protection of Animals to have Memphis Zoo pandas Le Le and Ya Ya sent back again to China. 

Eilish supported the petition by re-tweeting a online video posted by In Defense of Animals on Twitter. 

The animal advocacy team references artificial insemination triggering possible irreversible health harm to Ya Ya and parasite infections resulting in her pores and skin ailment as well as an inappropriate and insufficient diet plan. The team also said the pandas experience psychological destruction by remaining place in smaller cages for 18 several hours a working day. 

“We talk to you to persuade Memphis Zoo CEO Jim Dean to ship Ya Ya and Le Le again to their homeland China promptly,” In Defense of Animals reported on their petition site. “They have already sacrificed their total life to entertain humans. Now they are senior pandas achieving to the finish of their lifetime span, Ya Ya and Le Le are worthy of a retirement daily life without having sufferings!”

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As of Tuesday evening, the petition has in excess of 72,000 on line signatures.

The Memphis Zoo responded to the whirlwind of exercise on social media brought on by Eilish’s re-tweet by saying that Ya Ya’s skin ailment is a outcome of genetics, not ailments at the zoo. They also say that although her pores and skin may well look patchy, her high quality of daily life is not impacted, and that they do their best to give their pandas substantial top quality care.

Read Memphis Zoo’s comprehensive response down below:

The Memphis Zoo would like to handle the misinformation that has been dispersed a short while ago with regards to the well being and effectively-becoming of our Giant Pandas, Le Le and Ya Ya. These pandas have identified as the Memphis Zoo property given that 2003. Our pandas have been the inspiration for several investigate scientific tests concerning diet, replica, and forestry habitat restoration, all of which have contributed to the enormous achievements of possessing the Large Panda taken off from the endangered species list. We are partnered with the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens (CAZG) who we are in continuous communication with relating to the position of our pandas. We report to CAZG month-to-month sharing the position of husbandry, reproductive, and nutritional details for equally bears. These studies involve graphs of the pandas’ weights, volume of food eaten and defecated, as perfectly as the enrichment they obtain. 

Since their arrival in 2003, equally our male and feminine pandas have had complete annual physical exams which have always consisted of considerable diagnostic testing in order to examine them internally as effectively as externally. These examinations have also concerned extra input by a number of authorities in reproductive physiology, ultrasonography, and dentistry. For each the direction of the CAZG, during these once-a-year exams we have gathered semen from our male and carried out synthetic insemination on our female. As our bears have entered a geriatric section of daily life, we have greater the range of actual physical exams done each year to reassure the two our associates and the public that these bears are currently being vigilantly monitored. As a result of voluntary participation, regarded as operant conditioning, our bears have blood and urine samples examined every month which are monitored for early indicators of an infection or disease, as well as the acceptable operating of their organ methods. These examinations are carried out both equally proactively and for diagnostic reasons to assure our bears are acquiring exemplary treatment.

In addition, there have been lots of problems encompassing our feminine Large Panda, Ya Ya. Even with once-a-year tries of natural breeding and artificial insemination as per recommendation and consultation with CAZG, this personal above the previous 20 many years has had minimal achievement conceiving and zero results protecting a pregnancy. With regards to her stature, folks have observed that she is a very tiny bear. Phenotypically speaking, this does not stem from her nutrition, but her familial genetics. In summary, Ya Ya also life with a persistent pores and skin and fur affliction which is inherently related to her immune program and immediately impacted by hormonal fluctuations. This issue does not influence her high-quality of lifestyle but does sometimes make her hair glimpse slender and patchy. The ailment is closely monitored by our animal care workforce and veterinary staff members. 

With an energetic research group who is devoted to increasing the conservation influence of our zoo, they have produced approaches for artificial insemination that let for sperm to be frozen, transported across the environment to China, then thawed to be evaluated and used for artificial insemination all-around the earth. Our male Big Panda, Le Le, has sired offspring through this course of action. Furthermore, our teams have been a component of world-wide restoration coalitions to restore forests for the all-natural populations of Giant Pandas. 

We are incredibly proud of the function and devotion of our animal care teams, veterinary personnel, and study teams. They are devoted to world wide conservation as well as the animals in their treatment. We are incredibly grateful to our loyal zoo supporters who have adopted Le Le and Ya Ya’s lives above the last two many years. We really encourage any one who would like to study additional about our bears and our mission as a zoo to appear pay a visit to us.