Finnish zoo to return pandas to China early
The Peninsula
Helsinki: Finland will return two giant pandas on loan from China more than eight years ahead of schedule because of financial problems at the zoo whe...
Helsinki: Finland will return two giant pandas on loan from China more than eight years ahead of schedule because of financial problems at the zoo where they are housed, its chair told AFP on Wednesday.
The giant pandas named Jin Bao Bao (Lumi, or "Snow" in Finnish) and Hua Bao (Pyry, or "Blizzard"), which arrived in Finland in 2018, will be returned by the end of this year.
The pandas were to be returned after 15 years but "our economical situation does not allow us to keep the pandas anymore" Ahtari Zoo's board chairman Risto Sivonen said.
An agreement to loan the animals to Finland was sealed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2017.
"At that time we were very sure this was the right decision," Sivonen said.
