Panda pair arrive at Belgium zoo
Print Edition
Two giant pandas, on loan from China for the next 15 years, arrived in Belgium yesterday to an official welcome party led by Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo.
The pandas, each weighing over 110 kilograms, landed around midday at Brussels Airport after their journey in a pagoda-style cage onboard a cargo plane.
Hao Hao, a 4-year-old female whose name means “Friendly,” and Xing Hui (“Shining Star”), a male of the same age, emerged to find around 100 journalists and dozens of children from a nearby school waiting to greet them.
“We are very honoured and proud that China agreed to lend Belgium two of its national treasures,” said Di Rupo.
The new arrivals were then given a police escort to the Pairi Daiza Zoo in the town of Brugellette, 60 kilometers outside Brussels. Entry tickets to the zoo were entirely sold out yesterday, even though zookeepers had warned that Hao Hao and Xing Hui will not be making any public appearances until they have acclimatized and finished a period in quarantine.
The zoo has spent some 10 million euros (US$14 million) to prepare a vast enclosure for its new stars in its “China Garden,” comprising a pool, cave and bamboo plantation.
The Belgian press has reported that one million euros per year is being paid as “rent” for the pandas.
The lease term for the pair is 15 years, according to the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas in Sichuan Province.
“It’s the first time that we have sent animals abroad for so long,” Zhang Hemin, head of the center, told Xinhua news agency.
“It’s a good thing for Belgium,” said Nicole Duflot, a grandmother visiting the zoo with her husband and her grandson. “Though today we can’t see the pandas but it’s a great thing for us to come here.”
Giant pandas are one of the world’s most endangered species. About 1,600 live in the wild, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan, while more than 300 live in captivity.
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