A Chinese hotel has been mired in a controversy after using endangered red pandas to wake up guests in the morning. The Lehe Ledu Liangjiang Holiday Hotel, located in the countryside, near the metropolis of Chongqing, advertised “red panda-themed holidays”, which included bringing the endangered species into guests' rooms for wake-up calls.
Photos and videos posted online by social media users showed children in close proximity, interacting with the red pandas on the beds of the hotel. The rooms for the special service were priced at around Rs 24,160 (2,000 yuan) per night and were in high demand, according to a report in The Times.
After the videos of the unusual offering went viral, the Chongqing Forestry Bureau ordered the hotel to immediately cease all close-contact activities between visitors and wild animals.
Bureau officials have also been sent to conduct an on-site investigation and verification, adding that updates and results will be released in due course, often seen as a threat of prosecution or fines.
Also Read | American Woman Ditches 'Average' US For 'Extraordinary' Life In India In Viral Video
As per the hotel staff, the red pandas, borrowed from a zoo, are kept on-site and take turns participating in the "wake-up call" room visits. At 9:30 am, a staff member leads one red panda into guest rooms, where it roams freely and "sometimes climbs onto the bed". The hotel claimed that the pandas have been vaccinated and that a dedicated staff is employed to look after them.
"Guests are allowed to interact with it. The visit usually lasts a few minutes, depending on the red panda's mood that day," Chinese state media reported.
Fewer than 10,000 red pandas remain in the world, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). It is a second-class protected animal in China and has been listed as an endangered species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
A number of red pandas live in the Eastern Himalayas, but they have been losing their natural habitat due to deforestation. Additionally, they are killed when caught in traps meant for other animals, and they are sometimes poached for their fur.
