THE China Wildlife Conservation Association will be compensated US$500,000 after giant panda Long Long died during an operation at Kobe Oji Zoo in Japan, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.

Association experts said the 14-year-old male panda died choking on its own vomit when it was about to revive from an anesthetic following an operation to extract sperm on September 9. Pandas live on average 25 years.

The association made the conclusion based on Long Long's health in the week leading up to its death and the detailed process of the operation, Xinhua said.

The zoo gave Long Long an anesthetic at about 9am on the day to extract sperm so that zookeepers could later artificially inseminate a 14-year-old female panda named Shuang Shuang.

Zoo veterinarians failed to take sperm from Long Long and the operation was ceased at about 11am. Long Long, however, didn't regainconsciousness as expected.

Despite emergencytreatment, Long Long's heartbeat stopped about an hour later.

The association sent experts to Japan and questioned why the zoo was extracting sperm outside the animal's mating season. Experts said male pandas only mate from March to May, and little sperm could be generated in autumn.

The report said Kobe is collecting the compensation through an insurance policy.

In 1999, the association signed a 10-year agreement with Kobe on panda reproduction.

The agreement said China would send two pandas to the zoo, while Japan would donate US$1 million per year toward panda conservation.

The Wolong Giant Panda Research Center sent Shuang Shuang to Kobe in 2000 and Long Long two years later. They were renamed "Tan Tan" and "Kou Kou" respectively in Japan.

On June 9 this year, another agreement was signed, saying the cooperation would be prolonged for another five years.

Under the deal, Kobe agreed to pay the association US$500,000 if the pandas suffered an unnatural death during their stay in Japan, according to the report.

• agency [´eidʒənsi] n.代理商；机构；代理 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• conclusion [kən´klu:ʒən] n.结束；结论；推论 (初中英语单词)
• female [´fi:meil] a.女(性)的 n.女人 (初中英语单词)
• despite [di´spait] prep.尽管 (初中英语单词)
• treatment [´tri:tmənt] n.待遇；对待；治疗 (初中英语单词)
• agreement [ə´gri:mənt] n.同意；一致；协议 (初中英语单词)
• research [ri´sə:tʃ] n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中英语单词)
• cooperation [kəu,ɔpə´reiʃən] n.合作；协作 (初中英语单词)
• conservation [,kɔnsə´veiʃən] n.保存；节约；守恒 (高中英语单词)
• revive [ri´vaiv] v.(使)苏醒；(使)振奋 (高中英语单词)
• extract [ik´strækt, ´ekstrækt] vt.取出；摘录 n.精华 (高中英语单词)
• regain [ri´gein] vt.收回；恢复 (高中英语单词)
• consciousness [´kɔnʃəsnis] n.意识；觉悟；知觉 (高中英语单词)
• emergency [i´mə:dʒənsi] n.事变；紧急关头 (高中英语单词)
• compensation [,kɔmpen´seiʃən] n.补偿，赔偿 (高中英语单词)
• donate [dəu´neit] vt.捐赠 (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• policy [´pɔlisi] n.政策；权谋；保险单 (英语四级单词)
• reproduction [,ri:prə´dʌkʃən] n.繁殖；翻版；再现 (英语四级单词)
• respectively [ri´spektivli] ad.各自地；分别地 (英语四级单词)
• unnatural [,ʌn´nætʃərəl] a.不自然的 (英语四级单词)
• artificially [,ɑ:ti´fiʃəli] ad.人工地；假地 (英语六级单词)