Vienna's favourite panda arrives in new home in China

Nov 19, 2009, 10:24 GMT

   Beijing - Vienna - Panda Fu Long, the two-year-old star of the Vienna Zoo, on Thursday arrived in his new home in the south-western Chinese province in Sichuan, a zoo official said.

   Fu Long will have to undergo a month of quarantine, a deputy head of the Wolong nature reserve told the German Press Agency dpa over phone.

   The two-year-old male panda had become an attraction at the Austrian zoo not only because of his cuddly looks, but also because he was the first Giant Panda to be born in captivity in Europe in 25 years, making the Viennese loath to part with him.

   As Fu Long's parents are in Vienna on loan from China, there was an agreement that Fu Long would be moved to the Bifengxia panda breeding and research centre in Sichuan province, from where his parents, Yang Yang and Long Hui, hail as well.

   'The panda is a Chinese national treasure,' the Wolong official said. 'In accordance with the research agreement, it had to return to its mother country. All these cooperation agreements state that the offspring belongs to China.'

   The little panda was accompanied on his big trip by an Austrian veterinarian and a panda keeper, who will stay with the animal for another two weeks until he is settled in.

   Although pandas usually lose interest in breeding in captivity, Vienna Zoo director Dagmar Schratter hopes that Fu Long's father and mother will produce new offspring next year.