Chinese doctors remove cataract from elderly panda
Date: 18-Apr-02
Country: CHINA
"Her eyesight is extremely poor with the right eye going almost blind due to the cataract that started to develop in her right eye five years ago," it said.
Doctors used ultrasonic technology in the 90 minute operation on the 22 year old giant panda, which weighs 186 kg (410 lb).
Most pandas live to less than 13 years.
Xinhua said Basi - also nicknamed Cutie - was a "superstar of the animal world" and a nimble weight lifter, basketball player and cyclist, Xinhua said.
She toured the United States for six months in the late 1980s to promote wildlife conservation and later charmed large audiences at the opening ceremony of the 11th Asian Games hosted by China's capital Beijing in 1990, it said.
But time is taking its toll. The panda also suffers from high blood pressure and nervous diseases, Xinhua said.