BRUSSELS: A Belgian animal park announced on Wednesday that three out of its five pandas will be returning to China this year.
Tian Bao, born in 2016, and twins Bao Di and Bao Mei, born in 2019, are scheduled to depart Pairi Daiza Park in Hainault in the autumn of 2024.
In a statement, the park expressed gratitude for the four years that Bao Di and Bao Mei, and nearly eight years that Tian Bao, have spent at Pairi Daiza, cherished by visitors since their arrival.
The decision to send the pandas back to China is part of an initial agreement between Pairi Daiza and the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA).
When the panda parents, Hao Hao and Xing Hui, arrived in Belgium in 2014, a 15-year loan agreement was made. This agreement mandated that all offspring of the panda couple born in Belgium would return to China at the age of four to participate in breeding and conservation programs aimed at protecting the species. —Xinhua/APP
