Giant pandas on loan from China set to move from Toronto to Calgary

The second half of a panda family’s Canadian sojourn gets underway on Friday when the animals leave Toronto for a new home out west.

Two giant pandas on loan from China, plus the two babies they produced while living at the Toronto Zoo, will be relocating to Calgary where they will remain for as long as five years.

Da Mao and Er Shun, plus offspring Jia Panpan and Jia Yueyue, will be the first pandas to visit the city since the 1988 Olympics and will take up residence in a multimillion-dollar facility at the Calgary Zoo built expressly for their arrival.

The two panda parents were loaned to Canadian zoos for 10 years as part of a 2012 deal with China.

They have lived at the Toronto Zoo since 2013, where the cubs were born and later famously photographed in the arms of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The cubs will head back to China after a year and a half in Calgary to be part of a breeding program, while the adults will stay on in Canada to try and become second-time parents.

Calgary Zoo spokeswoman Trish Exton-parder says both the city and facility feel fortunate to play host to the fourlegged diplomats.

“It’s a huge privilege for us to have them and to care for them and to have them trust the expertise we have here, ‘’ Exton-parder said in a telephone interview. “They’re very much (China’s) treasures, and it’s quite an honour and a privilege for our community to enjoy them for the next five years.’’

Neither the Toronto nor Calgary zoo would offer any details about the pandas’ planned journey, which is set to get underway on Friday morning.

Once they arrive in Calgary, however, Exton-parder said the pandas would spend at least a month in quarantine.

That changes on May 7 when the zoo unveils both the animals and Panda Passage, their $14.5-million home for the duration of their stay.