Sunshine and ‘mate’ Sweetie eat shoots and leave
Zoo’s giant pandas may have to return to China
HAVING watched them fly in on the ‘Panda Express’, a nation has held its breath and waited for the pitter-patter of tiny paws.
But zoo chiefs have warned that Scotland’s giant pandas may have to return to China amid mounting financial pressures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yang Guang – Chinese for Sunshine – and his mate Tian Tian, or Sweetie, arrived at Edinburgh Airport in December 2011 as part of a £2.6billion UK trade deal with China.
Edinburgh Zoo had banked on the pair hitting it off and producing a cub that would offset the near-£1million a year it costs to lease them from the Chinese government.
Yet, since their arrival, the pandas have failed to produce the goods.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), which runs both Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park, says Sunshine and Sweetie may have to return to China next year when the present tenyear loan contract with the Chinese government runs out.
David Field, RZSS chief executive, says the charity lost £2million last year when the coronavirus pandemic forced it to close for three months during its peak summer season.
He said: ‘ We have to seriously consider every potential saving and this includes assessing our giant panda contract and the cost of their daily care.
‘At this stage, it is too soon to say what the outcome will be. We will be discussing next steps with our colleagues in China over the coming months.’
Mr Field added: ‘The closure of Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park for three months due to Covid-19 has had a huge financial impact on our charity because most of our income comes from our visitors.
‘Although our parks are open again, we lost around £2million last year and it seems certain that restrictions, social distancing and limits on our visitor numbers will continue for some time, which will also reduce our income.
‘We have done all we can to protect our charity by taking a government loan, furloughing staff where possible, making redundancies where necessary and launching a fundraising appeal.’
He said the zoo was not eligible for the Government’s fund aimed at smaller zoos, adding: ‘The support we have received from our members and animal lovers has helped to keep our doors open, and we are incredibly grateful.’
Upon the pandas’ arrival, the zoo shelled out a small fortune on a carefully adapted enclosure complete with a specially made ‘love tunnel’ and even a ‘pandacam’ to let the public spy on progress.
It even brought in international experts in artificial insemination.
Mr Field said: ‘Yang Guang and Tian Tian have made a tremendous impression on our visitors over the last nine years, helping millions of people connect to nature and inspiring them to t ake an i nterest in wildlife conservation.
‘I would love for them to be able to stay for a few more years with us –and that is certainly my current aim.’
The news is a new low in the love lives of the zoo’s most reluctant partners, who have failed to breed despite annual attempts to encourage them since 2012.
Both Tian Tian and Yang Guang produced cubs with other partners in China before their arrival in Scotland from the Ya’an reserve in Chengdu.
In 2012, their first mating season together, nature was allowed to take its course, but Tian Tian failed to show any sign that she was pregnant.
The following year, the zoo made its first attempt at controversial ‘invasive’ artificial insemination procedures, a process that was repeated each of the next six years without success.
It l ater emerged that Yang Guang could no longer impregnate his partner naturally after undergoing surgery to remove testicular tumours.
‘Specially made love tunnel’