Federal Express shipment of Giant Panda baby from US to China

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panda cub to be shipped via FedEx to China[image: AFP]

 

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US-born panda cub Tai Shan will next week leave the

National Zoo in Washington and head in grand style for a new life in

China-- on board a Federal

Express cargo plane, according to officials.

 

On the morning of February 4, Tai Shan will have a police escort to Dulles

international airport where he will board a FedEx jet specially decked out

for the occasion with a 40 foot by 40 foot (12 x 12 meter) emblem of a panda

painted on either side of the cockpit.

 

" We're going to use our new 777 freighter, the fastest, most efficient

aircraft to get to Asia and Tai Shan will be the special passenger on that

aircraft, " FedEx vice president of operations John Dunavant told reporters.

 

" We're going to call this aircraft the FedEx Panda Express, " said Dunavant.

 

With Tai Shan on board the Panda Express -- which normally transports 2,000

pounds (around 1,000 kilograms) of freight -- will be one of his handlers, a

veterinarian, and a two-year-old female panda and her entourage who will be

picked up in Atlanta.

 

Tai Shan and his panda travel partner, whose name is Mei Lan, will not have

the run of the plane but will travel in comfort, without being anesthetized,

in crates crafted out of tubular steel.

 

" We're confident he'll travel well. He's a very adaptable, laid-back bear, "

said handler Nicole Meese, who will accompany Tai Shan on the journey and

stay with him for a few days to help him make the transition to life in

China.

 

FedEx has years of experience transporting all sorts of wild animals, from

lions to tigers to Tai Shan's parents, which the global air freight company

flew to the United States in 2000, long before Tai Shan was a twinkle in

panda conservationists' eyes.

 

After his 14-and-a-half-hour flight to Chengdu, Tai Shan will travel 2.5

hours by road to Wolong's Beifengxia nature reserve in Sichuan province,

where after spending 30-days in quarantine he will join the breeding

program.

 

Tai Shan's departure for China has been on the cards since the day he was

born in 2005, and in fact, under an agreement between the National Zoo and

China, he was supposed to have been sent to the fatherland when he turned

two.

 

The Chinese granted Washington an extension, partly because Tai Shan would

have been too young, at age two, to enter the panda breeding program in

China, but also because of the " huge emotional attachment the American

public has for him, " said Don Moore, associate director of animal care at

the National Zoo.

 

But now at age four-and-a-half, the young panda is showing signs that he

would welcome being part of a breeding program, not to mention the chance to

nibble at more than the four varieties of bamboo that are available to him

at his home in Washington.

 

But that won't make waving goodbye to him any easier for visitors and staff

of the National Zoo.

 

" It's like sending your kindergartner off to kindergarten, but this

kindergartner isn't coming back. He's going to stay in China, " said Moore.

 

" I'm going to miss him terribly but I always knew this day was coming and we

were lucky to have him an extra two-and-a-half years, " said Meese, who has

spent almost every day with Tai Shan since his birth in the early hours of

July 9, 2005.

 

" But I'm looking at the more important, big picture and that is that Tai

Shan is going to be part of the breeding program, which will help to make

sure future generations can enjoy giant pandas, " she said.

 

" And also, by him moving, it will free up some space in case his parents

have a little brother or sister, " she added hopefully.

 

Zoo officials are carefully monitoring Tai Shan's mother Mei Xiang after

artificially inseminating her earlier this month.

 

If Mei Xiang does become pregnant, the National Zoo could welcome a new

panda cub to the world anytime from three to six months from now.