Veterinary experts to head for US to probe panda's death

A team of Chinese veterinary experts will go to the United States this month to investigate the death of 25-year-old giant panda Le Le at the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee.

The Shanghai Zoo, where Le Le was from, said veterinary experts from Shanghai, together with their counterparts from the Beijing Zoo, the original home of Ya Ya, the female panda lent to the Memphis Zoo in 2003 with Le Le, and other members of the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens, are preparing for the trip to the US.

The Chinese group will join the veterinary team at Memphis Zoo to carry out a postmortem examination to find out the reasons for the panda's "sudden and unexpected "death in its sleep early on Feb 1, according to a statement released by Memphis Zoo on Feb 3.