The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is under fire after photos emerged online showing one of its pandas with a severe eye infection. This has led to allegations of mistreatment. CGTN's Natalie Pang has the story.

A panda's dark circle turns white. Images posted online on January 19th by visitors show the disease among pandas. The caption reads, "I was so startled that I almost dropped my phone when I went to take a picture of its face". White scabs around the black eye. The condition has led to outrage among the many panda fans across the country. On Thursday, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding denied any mistreatment.

WANG CHENGDONG, EXPERT CHENGDU RESEARCH BASE OF GIANT PANDA BREEDING "We repeatedly scrape the dander around the eye and inspect it using a microscope. And it is confirmed to be negative. We haven't found the cause of the infection yet, so we haven't used medicine as we haven't confirmed the disease. It is possible that the panda is allergic to something. We will continue to investigate to find the reason for the fungal infection. We cannot give a specific day to find out the causes. But we can make sure they have a healthy body."

Built in 1987, the research base had 176 giant pandas at the end of last year, making it the largest panda base in the world. Now, eight pandas are suffering from this disease. The causes of the disease remains a mystery. But the research base promises the pandas will grow healthily.

YUAN BO CHENGDU RESEARCH BASE OF GIANT PANDA BREEDING "Qiyi is really healthy now. I don't think it has any difference with other pandas. We can see her live happy with her friends. We haven't done any quarantine or infection prevention measures. Our breeder will observe its behavior in every aspect. If she has loss of hair, we will observe her more often.

The investigation continues. And some people still question whether the center is providing the best care available. Panda lovers hope the bears get better soon and grow well, just as the research base promised. Natalie Pang CGTN.