Great Joy at Vienna's Schönbrunn Zoo: Panda Pair Has Finally Arrived

The wait for the new giant panda pair at the Vienna Zoo Schönbrunn has come to an end: the animals arrived on Wednesday morning.

According to the zoo, Zoo Director Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck himself traveled to China to participate in the farewell ceremony for the female Lan Yun ("Grace of an Orchid") and the male He Feng ("Breath of Lotus") and to accompany them on their journey to their new home.

Pandas Lan Yun and He Feng New Residents at Vienna Zoo Schönbrunn

"We are very proud to be committed to the protection and preservation of the giant panda and its habitat," said Hering-Hagenbeck. The animals are to serve as ambassadors for their endangered wild counterparts. To make the transition easier for the pandas, their familiar caretaker traveled with them to Austria and will stay here for some time. Zoo visitors will have to be patient: the pandas will not be visible until mid-May. Until then, the pandas will be in quarantine and acclimatizing in the indoor facility.

Ceremony for New Arrivals and Reopening of the Facility

After the acclimatization phase, Lan Yun and He Feng will be introduced in an official ceremony, and the newly designed panda facility will be reopened. The two animals were born in 2020 at stations of the Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Pandas (CCRCGP). Adult giant pandas are solitary animals. Therefore, according to Schönbrunn, the two animals will inhabit separate facilities.

Before their departure, the district manager Gerlinde Hillebrand and zookeeper Renate Haider spent a week directly at the Panda Station Dujiangyan to get to know the animals better. The journey to Vienna is said to have been relaxed. According to the announcement, Haider and Yang Haidi, the station's veterinarian, had access to the cargo hold during the direct flight to provide the animals with bamboo, steamed bamboo bread, and water. At Vienna Airport, a specialized freight team ensured a smooth arrival and quick onward transport of the pandas to the zoo.

Twilight Years in China: Farewell to Zoo Favorites Yang Yang and Yuan Yuan

Last autumn, the crowd favorites and giant pandas Yang Yang and Yuan Yuan bid farewell to the Vienna Zoo Schönbrunn to spend their twilight years as planned in their homeland China. Giant pandas are always loaned by China to zoos internationally.

Strict Protection Measures for Pandas

In the 1980s, there were temporarily only about 1,100 giant pandas in their natural habitats in China. Due to strict protection measures by the Chinese government, the population has since grown to about 1,900 animals. International partners, such as the Vienna Zoo Schönbrunn, are also important in this regard. Since 2003, there has been a cooperation with the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) for the protection of the fluffy mammals. According to the announcement, both sides are in close exchange about the protection of the endangered species and their habitats, scientific research, and reintroduction projects. In June of the previous year, the cooperation with the Chinese partner for the Vienna Zoo Schönbrunn was extended for another ten years.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.