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ANIMALS

Why Copenhagen Zoo is trying new tactics to ignite panda romance

Concerned that its two pandas are slow to breed, Copenhagen Zoo has begun a new strategy to encourage mating -- giving the prospective couple more time to get to know each other.

Published: 30 March 2023 08:49 CEST
Why Copenhagen Zoo is trying new tactics to ignite panda romance
A panda eating bamboo in its enclosure at Copenhagen Zoo. After three unfruitful years, Copenhagen Zoo has put its two pandas in the same enclosure earlier in the season hoping for them to eventually mate. Photo: Thibault Savary / AFP

The Danish capital’s zoo decided to put the bears in the same enclosure a month earlier than usual so they can get acquainted while temperatures remain
cooler, so they don’t bicker when the mating season begins.

“This year’s panda date is under way,” the zoo wrote on its website.

The zoo also published images showing the pandas keeping a respectful distance and mostly glaring at each other, showing “there’s not exactly love
in the air (yet).”

On loan from China for 15 years, Mao Sun and Xing Er arrived in Copenhagen in spring 2019 and since then all attempts to breed have been unsuccessful.

“We are trying an approach that has been successful with our polar bears and brown bears, we are putting them together now, even though Mao Sun will
not be ready for several weeks,” veterinarian Mads Frost Bertelsen said in a statement.
  
Normally the pandas are only given a warm-up period of two to three days, and zoo officials hope their new strategy will allow the animals to get to
know each other again, bicker and let out resentment before the window for passion closes.

“Pandas live alone and are not very keen on the company of others. Except, that is, for the few days a year when the female is in heat,” Frost Bertelsen
said.

“Therefore, the first few days they are together can end up in some serious fights,” the veterinarian added.

Reproduction among pandas is particularly difficult in captivity. Females are only fertile for 24 to 36 hours in the spring, according to the conservation organisation Pandas International.

“The problem is that they don’t really know what to do and they only have that one time a year to practise,” Frost Bertelsen said.

“In our experience they have had difficulty being synchronised. When the female was doing her thing, the male was busy with something else — and vice
versa.”

According to Pandas International, the panda population currently stands at 1,864 worldwide, with around 600 in captivity around the world.

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ANIMALS

Danish animal charities call for action after repeated cargo accidents

An accident involving a pig cargo truck on a Danish motorway on Monday was the sixth of its kind in the country this year. An animal protection charity says the incidents should be scrutinised.

Published: 18 September 2023 17:26 CEST
Danish animal charities call for action after repeated cargo accidents

A pig cargo truck caught fire on the E45 motorway near Aarhus on Monday morning, resulting in a closure of the road in both directions for several hours.

The incident occurred between junctions 48 and 49 near the city. No injuries were initially reported but police were called to assist clearing the animals, a number of which had to be euthanised. The cause of the fire was initially unknown.

“Several of the pigs were injured, while others were subjected to a severe stress by the incident,” senior officer Mikkel Møldrup of East Jutland Police said in a statement.

“In addition, there were pigs running around in the dark on the motorway, endangering road users in the morning traffic, which is why we decided that they had to be euthanised as quickly as possible,” he said.

The surviving pigs were rounded up and transported from the scene in a new transport vehicle.

According to charity Animal Protection Denmark (Dyrenes Beskyttelse), the incident was the sixth of its kind in Denmark this year.

The organisation called for authorities to keep a record of accidents involving animal cargoes and investigate their causes.

“We should do more to prevent these accidents, which have serious consequences for animal welfare and for people,” the organisation’s veterinarian Ditte Erichsen said in a statement.

“That’s why both the sector and authorities should put their focus on the many accidents with pig cargo trucks and systematically collect data about the incidents,” she said.

“These accidents lead to the death and suffering of pigs. Injured pigs can lie waiting to be euthanised for a long time,” she said.

Large animal cargoes with several levels are a potential accident risk, Erichsen argued.

“Pigs are transported in many layers on the trucks, so it’s obvious that trucks like these have a relatively high weight at the top, which changes the truck’s centre of gravity,” she said.

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