Coronavirus: bamboo shortage forces Canada to send two giant pandas back to China

  • Calgary Zoo to ship pair back home after pandemic upends delivery of essential fresh produce
  • Er Shun and Da Mao refuse to eat some of the centre’s locally sourced supplies
The Calgary Zoo cannot guarantee supplies of fresh bamboo for its giant pandas.Photo: Calgary Zoo
The Calgary Zoo cannot guarantee supplies of fresh bamboo for its giant pandas.Photo: Calgary Zoo
A Canadian zoo has decided to send two adult giant pandas back to China because the

coronavirus pandemic has disrupted essential deliveries of fresh bamboo.
The Calgary Zoo said it previously had bamboo flown in from China directly, but was forced to switch to domestic supplies after flights were cancelled.
The pandas had refused to eat some of the local product, which had been degraded by longer delivery times, and the supplies could be disrupted without warning, the zoo said.

“Knowing a second wave of Covid-19 is likely, and the bamboo supply chain challenges will continue to negatively impact the zoo’s ability to bring bamboo to the giant pandas, the Calgary Zoo feels it’s critical to move the beloved giant pandas back to China where there are abundant local sources of bamboo as soon as possible,” the zoo said on Tuesday.

Giant pandas in Hong Kong mate naturally for the first time in a decade
Giant pandas feed almost exclusively on fresh bamboo and each adult chews through about 40kg (88 pounds) of the plant every day.
“We believe the best and safest place for Er Shun and Da Mao to be during these challenging and unprecedented times is where bamboo is abundant and easy to access,” Calgary Zoo president and chief executive Clément Lanthier said, referring to the two pandas. “This was an incredibly difficult decision to make but the health and well-being of the animals we love and care for always comes first.”
Er Shun and Da Mao arrived in Canada in 2014 as part of a 10-year agreement between Canada and China. They spent five years at the Toronto Zoo and arrived in Calgary in March 2018 with their cubs, Jia Panpan and Jia Yueyue.

It is unclear whether the cubs will be sent to China as well.

The zoo said the pandas would be deeply missed by staff, volunteers, donors and visitors from around the world. Although in-person farewells were not possible during the zoo’s temporary closure, the public could see the pandas online through PandaCam, it said.

In all, 58 giant pandas in 17 countries are on loan from China, according to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan province.

Finland is the most recent recipient, taking delivery of a pair in January 2018, while 

Bei Bei, who was on temporary loan to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in the United States

, was the last giant panda to return to China, in November 2019.

Source: SCMP

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Law of Unintended Consequences

continuously updated blog about China & India

ChiaHou's Book Reviews

continuously updated blog about China & India

What's wrong with the world; and its economy

continuously updated blog about China & India