Paris
AP
—
A few star giant pandas who lived in France for 13 years and gave beginning to three cubs have been on their manner back to China on Tuesday, the Beauval Zoo stated.
Huan Huan, the feminine, and her companion Yuan Zi, each 17, are touring on a 12-hour flight from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport in huge white containers with home windows, holes for respiration and the inscription “Bon voyage.”
Zoo director Rodolphe Delord, throughout a goodbye ceremony on the airport, stated “they are reaching an age that requires highly specialized care” and can “benefit from the optimal environment” on the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, the place they have been born.
Delord had beforehand defined that Huan Huan has been identified with kidney failure, which isn’t unusual for a carnivore this age. French and Chinese veterinary groups determined to ship them back to China whereas their well being situation permits them to journey safely, he stated.
For many years, China has gifted pleasant nations with its unofficial mascot as a part of a coverage of “panda diplomacy.” The nation now loans pandas to zoos on business phrases.
The pair turned well-known in France since they arrived on the Beauval Zoo in 2012.
Huan Huan gave beginning in 2017 to the primary panda ever born in France, Yuan Meng, a male who was despatched to China 5 years later.
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Watch these child pandas take their first steps outdoors
She additionally gave beginning to feminine twins in 2021, Huanlili and Yuandudu. They will keep in the meanwhile on the Beauval Zoo, which welcomed 1.9 million guests final 12 months.
In Chengdu, the couple will “continue raising awareness of visitors about the conservation of this iconic species,” the zoo stated.
There are about 2,000 pandas residing within the wild in China and 500 in captivity worldwide.