Hong Kong leader John Lee eyes arrival of giant pandas on China’s National Day
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong is expected to receive a pair of giant pandas from the central government in three months’ time, with the government eyeing the animals’ arrival on China’s National Day.
The Chinese National Forestry and Grassland Administration has chosen a pair of giant pandas, aged between five and eight, to gift to Hong Kong, Chief Executive John Lee told the press on Tuesday during his visit in Sichuan.
According to the Hong Kong leader, the male panda weighed around 120 kilograms and was described by Lee as “agile, smart and active.” The female panda weighed around 100 kg and was said to be “gentle and cute.”
“I hope that the pair of giant pandas can give birth to a new generation, because it is very rare… under the HKSAR’s One Country, Two Systems, I think it [would have] great symbolic meaning,” Lee said in Cantonese.
China’s plan to give Hong Kong a new pair of giant pandas was unveiled on July 1, when the city marked 27 years since its handover from Britain to China.
‘Collective memory’
This would be the third pair of pandas gifted to the city. The two pairs of giant pandas gifted by Beijing previously, for the second and tenth anniversary of the Handover, were a “collective memory” shared by Hongkongers, Lee said on July 1 this year.
The new pair of giant pandas will go into isolation in the Dujiangyan Breeding Yefang Research Center for 30 days, before spending another 30 days in quarantine in Hong Kong. They will meet with members of the public after they have adjusted to the new environment, the chief executive said.
Lee added Ocean Park Hong Kong will send its personnel to Sichuan for training so they can learn the habits of the giant pandas. The amusement park will also add plants and enhance other facilities for the giant pandas.
“We will make every effort to get prepared and ensure the giant pandas are delivered to Hong Kong promptly and safely… we strive to have the giant pandas arrive in Hong Kong on October 1,” Lee said.
When asked how much money was earmarked for transferring the giant pandas to Hong Kong and the renovation work at Ocean Park, the city’s leader said the government was drafting an agreement with the theme park. Details about the expenses would be announced later, Lee said.
Hailed as China’s national treasure, giant pandas have long been used by Beijing as diplomatic gifts. But animal welfare NGO People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has called on China to cease the practice, after a 24-year-old male giant panda named Le Le died at Memphis Zoo in the US in February.
According to Ocean Park’s estimates, there are fewer than 1,900 giant pandas in the wild. Their habitats were “highly fragmented by human activities,” the park said, adding many giant pandas had no way to travel to a new areas to find food or mates with another group. Their survival was also complicated by their short mating periods.
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