FEMALE giant panda Ya Ya returned to the Beijing Zoo at 12:43 a.m. (Beijing Time) yesterday after being quarantined in Shanghai, according to the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Ya Ya’s health is now in stable condition, said the administration.

To prepare for Ya Ya’s return, the Beijing Zoo has selected a special venue for Ya Ya and devised nursing, health care, and nutrition plans for her.

The expert team from the Beijing Zoo, which stayed with Ya Ya during the quarantine period, will continue to attend to Ya Ya’s needs after she returned to Beijing.

Due to her old age, Ya Ya needs to rest and adapt to the new environment, so she will not meet the public for now, said the administration.

Her latest updates will be posted through the zoo’s official microblog, according to the administration.

Ya Ya was born at the Beijing Zoo on Aug. 3, 2000. She and fellow giant panda Le Le arrived at the Memphis Zoo in the United States in April 2003 as envoys of friendship, and they were warmly welcomed.

In 2006, Ya Ya began to shed her fur, a condition that worsened in 2014. Experts at the Memphis Zoo and in China tried various treatments but were unable to solve the problem, the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens said.

Sadly, Le Le died of heart disease in February this year, ahead of the pair’s scheduled return to China. Ya Ya returned to Shanghai from the United States on April 27.

Ya Ya has become an internet sensation again after Chinese media showed images of her arriving at her new home in Beijing.

On Weibo, a hashtag tracking Ya Ya’s return quickly gained over 230 million views, topping the trending charts yesterday.

A video of Ya Ya in Beijing posted by State broadcaster CCTV gained more than 200,000 likes as of yesterday morning, with many social media users applauding her return.

Videos from the Beijing Zoo showed the aging panda surrounded by bamboo while staff prepared a lavish all-bamboo feast.

Many online comments praised Ya Ya’s new caretakers, while claiming the panda looked healthier than before.

“Her condition has improved a lot apparently!” read one top post liked by other users. “It’s only been a month and the panda looks like a different one now,” another user wrote.

Since at least 2019, Memphis Zoo has faced concerns from visitors and panda fans that Ya Ya looked thin and discolored. Concerns for her health were intensified after her male counterpart, Le Le, died in February 2023 just months before the pair were scheduled to return to China.

Memphis Zoo repeatedly dismissed speculations the aging giant panda was sick or malnourished. Instead, zoo officials and vets maintained Ya Ya was simply small framed but healthy, and attributed her fur loss to hormones.(SD-Xinhua)