The two giant pandas “Da Mao” and “Er Shun”, who are staying at the Calgary Zoo, boarded a plane on November 27th to return to China.
The decision was made more than two years earlier than originally planned. The Calgary Zoo announced in mid-May this year that it had to make the difficult decision to send the pandas back to China ahead of schedule due to challenges in the fresh bamboo supply chain caused by the Xinguan epidemic. However, due to international travel restrictions, the two pandas were delayed for about half a year before the trip was made. The Calgary Zoo prepared adequate meals for the pandas before their trip. It is estimated that each panda will consume about 100 kilograms of fresh bamboo during the flight, the zoo said via Facebook. The zoo also prepared cookies, apples and pears for the pandas.
The zoo also updated the pandas’ itinerary in real time on Facebook. A netizen left a message expressing his or her nostalgia for the pandas, calling it a “bittersweet” day. It is understood that the zoo sent two female caretakers to escort the pandas back to China. They went to Edmonton earlier this week to be tested for neoconavirus. They will be quarantined for 14 days, both upon arrival in China and upon their return to Canada.
Chengdu male giant panda “Damao” and Chongqing female giant panda “Ershun” arrived in Canada in March 2013 under an agreement between the Chinese and Canadian governments, and were originally scheduled to stay for 10 years. They first lived in Toronto for 5 years. In March 2018, the four pandas relocated to Toronto. Calgary. In January of this year, four-year-old “Jia Panpan” and “Jia Yueyue” returned to China to join the giant panda breeding program, as agreed.
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