Unable To Cost Maintenance, Finland Will Return 2 Giant Pandas To China

Panda at Finland/DOK Athari Zoo via Instagram @ ahtarizoo

JAKARTA - Finland will return two giant pandas to China in November. The return is said to be because the zoo where the panda lives is no longer able to finance maintenance.

Two pandas named Lumi and Pyry, were brought to Finland in January 2018, months after President Chnina Xi Jinping visited the Nordic country and signed a joint agreement to protect the animals.

Since its founding in 1949, the People's Republic of China has sent pandas to zoos abroad to strengthen trade relations, strengthen foreign relations, and enhance its international image.

The Finnish agreement is valid for 15 years, but the pandas will soon be quarantined for a month before being sent back to China, according to the Ahtari Zoo, the current panda's home.

The zoo, managed by the private company, invested more than 8 million euros (8.92 million dollars) in the facilities where the animals live and spent an annual fee of 1.5 million euros on panda maintenance, including the cost of conservation paid to China, said Chairman Ahtari Risto Sivonen.

The zoo hopes the pandas will attract visitors to locations in central Finland.

Namun tahun lalu mereka justru mengaku menumpuk utang yang semakin besar karena pandemi ini membatasi perjalanan, dan mereka sedang membahas pengembalian panda-panda tersebut.

The increase in inflation has increased costs, the zoo said. Meanwhile, the Finnish government in 2023 rejected requests for state funding.

"Overall, negotiations to return the animals have been going on for three years," said Sivonen.

"Now we are reaching a point where China says it can be done," Sivonen said.

The return of the pandas is a business decision made by the zoo that does not involve the Finnish government and will not have an impact on relations between the two countries, a spokesman for the Finnish Foreign Ministry said.