“This morning before coming to the zoo, I cried when I saw an old video of Yi Yi and Sheng Yi.”
Yi Yi and Sheng Yi will be taken on a cargo flight to the Chinese city of Chengdu at 10.30pm local time, an official familiar with the travel plan told AFP.
A farewell ceremony attended by China’s ambassador to Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur’s deputy environment minister was held at the zoo.
“I hope that these Giant Pandas … can further promote understanding and close cooperation between the two countries,” Deputy Minister Huang Tiong Sii said in a statement.
In the wild, giant pandas can only be found in China’s mountainous central regions, where bamboo – their favourite food – grows in abundance.
As part of its policy of “panda diplomacy”, Beijing loans the animals to countries as a goodwill gesture.
There are an estimated 1,860 giant pandas left in the wild, according to environmental group WWF, and about 600 in captivity in panda centres, zoos and wildlife parks worldwide.
Source: CNA
