Celebrations for panda's one month in the limelight
CHIANG MAI :
The yet-to-be-named female panda cub made her public debut with much fanfare at Chiang Mai zoo yesterday.
BLESSING: A monk at Wat Sridonmoon in Chiang Mai's Muang district blesses the birth certificate of the panda cub presented by a mascot. The blessing is for the good health of the cub, which was one month old yesterday.
To mark the one-month birthday, the cub born to mother Lin Hui and father Xuang Xuang was treated with a celebratory cake weighing more than 100kg.
Chiang Mai native Anong Wongprom, 65, and Thanawat Pingwang, a three-year-old boy, shared the special honour of cutting the cake.
They were selected as the oldest and the youngest from 22 guests who shared the same birthday as the newborn panda.
Born on May 27, the cub currently weighs about 1.5kg and is about 33cm long.
Up to 500 pieces of cake were handed out to the wellwishers, both Thais and foreigners, at the celebratory party yesterday.
Prasertsak Buntrakulpuntawi, director for panda research and display, said the baby panda was very healthy and had begun crawling around.
Chinese panda expert Wei Ming said he was very excited because it was the first time that he was up close and personal with the newborn panda.
Meanwhile, Zoological Park Organisation director-general Sophon Damnui led about 100 zoo employees in a 2km run yesterday before the party.
The run, from the panda enclosure to the zoo entrance, was part of the birthday celebration.
The congratulatory run was punctuated by a worship pit stop at a temple en route.
Compared with other countries, Mr Sophon said it was a success story for Thailand to nurse the panda cub for a month.
In general, pandas born outside China die within a week of coming into the world.
Cuddly panda toys sold like hot cakes yesterday.
A souvenir shop manager said his stock ran out and needed to be resupplied to satisfy demannd.
By: Cheewin Sittha
Bangkok Post, Published: 28/06/2009 at 12:00 AM
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