A pair of giant pandas who spent 13 years at France’s Beauval Zoo and became national favourites departed for China on Tuesday for specialised care.
Huan Huan and her partner Yuan Zi, both aged 17, boarded a 12-hour flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in specially designed white transport crates marked “Bon voyage,” equipped with windows and ventilation holes.
During the farewell ceremony, zoo director Rodolphe Delord said the pandas were returning to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, where they were born, as they have reached an age requiring increased veterinary expertise. Huan Huan has been diagnosed with kidney failure — a condition not uncommon in older carnivores — prompting the decision to send them home while they are healthy enough to travel.
The pair arrived in France in 2012 as part of China’s long-standing “panda diplomacy,” where pandas are loaned to foreign zoos. They quickly became stars, drawing millions of visitors.
Huan Huan gave birth to Yuan Meng, France’s first-ever panda cub, in 2017. He was sent to China five years later. She welcomed female twins, Huanlili and Yuandudu, in 2021; they will remain at Beauval Zoo for now.
The zoo, which received 1.9 million visitors last year, said the pandas will continue contributing to conservation efforts and raising awareness at their new home in Chengdu.
Globally, approximately 2,000 giant pandas live in the wild in China, with around 500 housed in captivity.
