WASHINGTON — The National Zoo’s week-old giant panda cub died Sunday morning, the zoo announced.
Keepers heard “distressed vocalizations” from the female giant panda, Mei Xiang, about 9:17 a.m. Sunday and realized “this is not right, this is not good,” said zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson.
The keepers also realized they had stopped hearing the cub’s healthy squealing, which had been going on for a week and was a good sign of a thriving cub.
One keeper tried to distract the mother, while another slipped into the den and retrieved the cub with a long-handled “grabber,” zoo officials said.
Veterinarian Nancy Boedeker performed cardio pulmonary resuscitation, administered oxygen with a tiny mask and gave the cub some emergency drugs, zoo officials said. But the animal had no heartbeat and was not breathing, and could not be revived.
“This is devastating news for the entire Smithsonian National Zoo community,” said zoo director Dennis Kelly.
The zoo said it was not clear what killed the cub, but a necropsy was scheduled to be performed Sunday night. The zoo said it might have some preliminary results by Monday.
