AUSTRIAN President Alexander Van der Bellen visited the panda twins, Fufeng and Fuban, at Zoo Vienna on Saturday to say goodbye as the pandas were scheduled to return to Sichuan Province, the hometown of giant pandas in China on Sunday.

Fufeng and Fuban, who were born in August 2016 in Austria, traveled by plane from Vienna via Frankfurt to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province. They had finished their weeks-long training for their journey, according to the zoo.

“The time with the twins is gone. It seems to me as if it was yesterday that the two still were cuddling with their mother Yangyang in the box. They have given us many great moments,” said CEO of Zoo Vienna, Dagmar Schratter.

The panda twins have lived in Vienna with their mother Yangyang for over two years. In the field, panda cubs leave their mothers at this age and seek their own territory.

Yangyang is seen as a super mother. With Longhui, the father of the twins, she gave birth to five cubs. Their rearing was a sensation — for the first time a panda mother in captivity raised twins without human help. But Longhui died of cancer in December 2016.

Fulong, Fuhu and Fubao, the three male cubs, were all back in their hometown in China after becoming 2 years old.

A zookeeper accompanied the twins to China and will help them settle in their new home.

According to the contract with China, the panda cubs should be returned to China once they are 2 years old.

Returned San Diego panda

meets the public

A senior giant panda named Gao Gao who just finished his 15-year sojourn at the San Diego Zoo in the United States, met the public yesterday in his native home of Southwest China’s Sichuan Province after undergoing a monthlong quarantine to prove he is in good health.

At 28 years old, equivalent to about 98 human years, Gao Gao was able to normally eat the healthy diet provided by keepers at a quarantine base of the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas in the city of Dujiangyan, Sichuan.

His diet is composed of bamboo branches and sprouts, carrots, apples and buns.

During his stay in San Diego, Gao Gao had his cancerous right testicle removed, which proved to be a non-aggressive type of tumor. He has taken medication for illnesses that come with age including high blood pressure, heart problems and arthritis.

Vets with China’s panda center have been closely monitoring his health. They said the panda base in Dujiangyan is much colder than the one in San Diego. The temperature change is a big challenge for Gao Gao, but he has adjusted well to his new conditions. His room temperature is kept at 15 degrees Celsius at night.

The panda center has established giant panda cooperation with 15 zoos in 13 countries. A total of 34 Chinese giant pandas have been on a sojourn in those zoos and have given birth to 18 cubs abroad.

(Xinhua)