Pairi Daiza: The three pandas born in Belgium are on their way to China

In quarantine for a month, the three giant pandas have followed a very strict program to allow their return to China in the best conditions. The park team worked with them to get them into transport crates without having to put them to sleep. They will therefore not be anesthetized during transport. “TEverything is done on the basis of the trust that there was between the teams, Pairi Daiza and these animals“explains Alicia Quiévy, the head veterinarian of Pairi Daiza.

Seeing them leave gives him a pang in his heart: “We have seen these babies, who weighed only a few grams, grow to reach a good hundred kilos today. We watched them grow up and interacted with them a lot. They are a bit like our stars here at Pairi Daiza. It touches us to see them leave. But we know that it is for the good of the species, for conservation, and it is a goal that is both beautiful and noble“.

Indeed, the departure of the three ursids, born in Pairi Daiza, is part of a major cooperation testifying to the conservation efforts carried out for more than 30 years by China in partnership with Pairi Daiza and various university programs. Today there are nearly 1,900 giant pandas living in the wild, compared to only 1,100 in the 1980s, when the species was classified as endangered. The species is now considered vulnerable.