Japanese theme park to send all four of its giant pandas to China
A theme park in the western Japanese prefecture of Wakayama says it will bid farewell to all four of its giant pandas in around late June.
Adventure World in Shirahama Town announced on Thursday that all the pandas under its care will be transferred to China.
It says it has reached an agreement with the Chinese side as a joint panda conservation project is set to expire in August.
The park says the four giant pandas will be sent to a research base of giant panda breeding in Sichuan Province in June, when the weather is relatively cool.
The four female pandas were all born in Adventure World. Rauhin is 24 years old. Yuihin is 8, Saihin is 6, and the youngest, Fuhin, is 4.
Under the joint project that started in 1994, 17 giant pandas were born in the Wakayama park over three decades.
Adventure World says it strongly hopes that the joint project will continue, and that it will keep negotiating with the Chinese side.
Adventure World's first giant panda, Eimei, arrived at the park in 1994.
The park's first cub, Rauhin, was born in 2000 under a Japan-China joint conservation project.
A total of 17 cubs were born in Adventure World. The youngest, Fuhin, was born in 2020. Eimei fathered 16 of them.
They were dubbed the "hama" family because of the same Kanji character in the town's name and those of the pandas.
Giant pandas have been a major tourist attraction for Shirahama. The town was promoted as a place to meet pandas.
After the Wakayama pandas' departure, the only remaining giant pandas in Japan will be the two at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo.
All giant pandas in Japan, including those born in Japan, are "on loan" from China.
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