Latest news with #LeheLeduHotel
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Hotel which uses a live PANDA to wake up guests is rapped by local forestry bureau amid animal rights concerns
A hotel in China which uses live red pandas to wake up guests has been rapped by the local forestry bureau amid animal rights concerns. The Lehe Ledu Liangjiang Holiday Hotel, in the mountainous countryside near the southwestern city of Chongqing, advertise 'red panda-themed holidays'. They allowed the furry creatures to visit boarders in their rooms to providing an adorable wake-up call, until publicity attracted criticism of the practice. Videos posted to social media even show the endangered animals sitting on overjoyed tourists beds and interacting with them. Many safari experiences in the country promise close contact with animals, but it is the hotel's red panda meet-and-greets which caught the attention of local media. A Chinese magazine published an article about the service which triggered discussion over ethics on social media. This caught the attention of the local forestry bureau who then sent inspectors to investigate. The bureau released a statement to say it had ordered an immediate halt to all 'close contact' activities red pandas and vowed to report back on any further findings - which is often seen as a threat of prosecution or fines. British YouTubers Ben and Reanne Dridger, who post vlogs of their travels through China's provinces, gushed about their own red panda encounter at the hotel in April. 'China is the only place in the world where you can have a panda delivered to your room to sit on your bed with you,' Ben said before panning the camera to Reanne who was hand feeding chunks of apple to the friendly, and seemingly docile, animal. 'That's so cool,' remarked Reanne, as the red panda - one of four kept at the hotel - crawled across the bed and sniffed the camera pointed in its face. Chinese guests posted similar videos of interaction with the animals on Douyin - a popular social media site in the country. Hotel staff said how long the creatures decide to stay in guest's rooms 'depended on the red panda's mood that day', China Newsweek reported. Communist Party newspaper The Global Times put out a severe warning that the practice may be a breach of animal rights. The hotel responded to concerns over red pandas potentially being unhygienic or dangerous to children by insisting they were all vaccinated, and children were required to be accompanied by an adult. Despite their name, red pandas are not closely related to the black and white giant pandas which live in the same region of China, and is in fact part of the extended raccoon family. Red pandas are currently listed as an endangered species by the IUCN, and it is believed there are less than 10,000 living in the wild. Before a ban in 2018, close contact activities with giant pandas, such as paying for pictures with cubs, was common practice. But the Liangjiang Hotel seems to have dodged prosecution due to the fact red pandas are not technically in the giant panda family.
Times
18 hours ago
- Times
Chinese hotel ordered to stop red panda ‘wake-up call' service
A hotel in southwestern China that allowed residents to wake up to the pitter-patter of a red panda's footsteps has been told to stop its unusual wake-up call offer on safety grounds. The Lehe Ledu Liangjiang Holiday Hotel, which is situated in mountainous countryside near the metropolis of Chongqing, advertised 'red panda-themed holidays'. At many safari experiences in China, close contact with the animals is promised. At the hotel, staff went one step further, allowing a red panda to visit tourists in their room, at least until its publicity proved too successful. After an article in a Chinese magazine and consequent social media discussion of the ethics of the 'red panda wake-up call', the local forestry bureau stepped in, sending inspectors to find out what was going on. In a statement the bureau said it had ordered an immediate halt to all 'close contact' activities with animals, and would report back on any further findings it made — often a threat of prosecution or fines. The red panda, despite its name, is part of the extended raccoon family. It is not a bear and its only relationship to the giant panda is that it lives in the same part of China and is similarly photogenic. Close-contact activities — paying to be photographed holding a cub — has been banned in giant panda breeding centres in China since 2018. Before that, it was a regular form of income. That seems to have been interpreted by the Liangjiang Hotel as a special case. Since it started the practice of taking a red panda, one of four kept at the hotel for the purpose, around the rooms last year it has become a popular feature. A British couple, Ben and Reanne Ridger from Portsmouth, who are keeping a YouTube video blog of their tour of China's provinces, enthused about the red panda experience two months ago. 'Everyone watching at home, they've never had anything like this,' Ben Ridger said, almost certainly correctly. The panda was brought to the room by staff. How long it stayed, they said, 'depended on the red panda's mood that day', China Newsweek reported. The Global Times, a Communist Party newspaper, issued a severe warning that the practice might be an abuse of animal rights. The hotel responded to concerns that the pandas might be unhygienic or dangerous to children by insisting that they had all been vaccinated, and that children were not allowed to enjoy the experience without the presence of an adult.
