Two large pandas, male Lily and female Xinxin, were sent from the Ueno Zoo to Tokyo was sent on a charter flight to China from Narita International Airport. This is reported by Kyodo news agency.
A truck with pandas was leaving the zoo at 4 a.m., some zoo staff were crying, seeing off their pets. Also, a huge crowd of Tokyo residents came to see off the animals.
"I feel a little lonely, but I'm incredibly grateful. I want them to live peacefully in the environment in which they were born and raised," said zoo director Yutaka Fukuda.
Upon return, the 19-year-old animals will be taken to the conservation and research center for this species in Sichuan Province.
Lily and Xinxing were born in Sichuan Province in 2005 and came to the Ueno Zoo in February 2011 on loan to conduct breeding research. According to the zoo's management, in recent years the animals have had high blood pressure, which they tried to stabilize with medicines. However, after consultations with experts, it was decided to return the animals to their homeland, where they will undergo treatment.
In 2017, Lily and Xinxin had a panda Xiangxiang, who returned to China in 2023. Now only the twins Xiaoxiao and Leilei, who were born to Xinxin in 2021, remain in the Ueno Zoo from pandas.
Recall that all the big pandas of the world belong to China. Since 1984, foreign countries have been able to keep bamboo bears only on lease terms, paying Beijing from $ 250 million for each pair of individuals, but the animals remain the property of China, which returns home after the expiration of the agreement.
In 2023, Japan, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands gave pandas to China, as well as the Washington and Memphis zoos, and pandas from the Atlanta Zoo and Australia will return to their homeland by the end of 2024.
As reported by EADaily, pandas Lumi and Pyu will return home ahead of schedule from the Finnish Yachtyari Zoo before the end of this year. The animals arrived in Finland in 2018 under a 15-year lease agreement.
The return of pandas to China was preceded by a number of factors: a decrease in the number of tourists amid the coronavirus pandemic, rising interest rates, and inflation. In this connection, the zoo is experiencing long-term financial problems.
Keeping animals costs the zoo € 1 million annually. At the same time, a year earlier, the € 5 million assistance package to the zoo, provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, was withdrawn from the country's additional budget.