Taiwan flight to pick up pandas reaches Sichuan
22/12/2008 16:09
A Taiwan-based Eva Air flight arrived in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan
Province, near midday today to pick up two pandas the mainland has offered to
Taiwan as a gesture of goodwill.
The plane reached the Shuangliu Airport in
Chengdu at 11:45 a.m. It took off from Taipei at 8:30 am.
If weather permits,
the plane will depart with the panda pair, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, whose names
together mean "Reunion," at 2 pm tomorrow. It is expected to reach Taipei about
three hours later.
The pandas, both four years old, have been living at a
breeding base in Ya'an, Sichuan. Their previous home, the Wolong Nature Reserve,
was seriously damaged in the May 12 strong earthquake.
Two staff, a panda
keeper and a veterinarian, from the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan will
accompany the pandas to Taiwan.
They will bring with them a week's worth of
the pandas' favorite food, such as steamed corn buns and fresh bamboo. Other
necessities include medicines like motion-sickness pills.
After arriving in
Taiwan, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan will be housed in a four-story building at the
Taipei city zoo. They will have the first floor and an outdoor playground to
themselves.
Five staff from the Taipei zoo have been at the breeding base in
Sichuan since October to become familiar with the pandas.
The mainland
announced in May 2005 it would donate two giant pandas to Taiwan. Their
departure has been delayed for more than three years. Improved cross-Strait ties
make their journey to Taiwan possible.
The pandas are expected to meet the
public during the Spring Festival, the Chinese lunar new year, but this will
depend on how they adapt to the new environment, Yang Hsiao-tung, director of
Taipei's "department of information and tourism", said earlier.
Xinhua
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