Giant Pandas arrive in Australia from China

[Guest guest]

http://news./s/ap/as_australia_giant_pandas Australia welcomes

giant pandas with city party

[image: AP]

By TANALEE SMITH, Associated Press Writer Tanalee Smith, Associated Press

Writer – Fri Nov 27, 11:17 pm ET

 

ADELAIDE, Australia – Two giant pandas from China were welcomed to

Australiaon Saturday with gifts of bamboo and a city party before

settling in to

their new home, a 25-acre (10-hectare) natural enclosure at the Adelaide Zoo

..

 

Four-year-old male Wang Wang and 3-year-old female Fu Ni are on loan to the

zoo for 10 years as part of a joint research program, and their arrival

comes amid slightly strained relations between China and Australia.

 

Twelve life-size panda figures lined the runway at the Adelaide airport,

where the animals' flight was met by state Premier Mike Rann and other state

and zoo officials holding a " Welcome " sign and branches of bamboo.

 

An 18-vehicle convoy of floats then left the airport for downtown Adelaide,

where a parade through the streets was followed by a public party lasting

all afternoon.

 

The pandas were to be given a police escort to the zoo, which built an 8

million Australian dollar ($7.25 million) enclosure that includes bamboo

plants and refrigerated rocks to keep them comfortable in Adelaide's hot

summers. Two Chinese handlers traveled with the pandas and will stay in

Adelaide for a few months to help with their adjustment.

 

The pandas will be in quarantine at the zoo for 30 days, but will be visible

to the public behind glass when their exhibit opens Dec. 14.

 

Zoo CEO Chris West said the pandas are expected to generate more than AU$600

million for the South Australia state economy during their time here.

 

China often sends gifts of its unofficial national mascot to foreign nations

as a sign of friendship. Chinese President Hu Jintao offered the pandas as a

goodwill gesture during a 2007 visit to Australia.

 

However, relations have recently become strained between the countries, with

Beijing upset over alleged Australian government restrictions on Chinese

investment in mining, and the arrest of an Australian mining executive in

China.

 

The two pandas had been living at the Bifengxia Giant Panda Breeding

Centerin Ya'an City in southwestern Sichuan

province, after the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center where they were

living was destroyed in a massive earthquake last year.

 

Only about 1,600 of the animals live in the wild, while another 120 are in

Chinese breeding facilities and zoos.

 

China uses payments from zoos that host loaned pandas to fund research and

breeding programs. Under such loan agreements, any panda cubs born overseas

to lent animals remain China's property.