(Reuters) – Finland will return two giant pandas to China in November, eight years early, because the zoo where they live can no longer afford their care, the zoo’s board of directors chairman told Reuters on Tuesday.
In January 2018, the pandas Lumi and Piri were brought to Finland, a few months after Chinese President 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 overseas zoos to strengthen trade ties, cement foreign relations and boost its international image.
The agreement with Finland was for a 15-year stay, but the pandas will instead undergo a month-long quarantine before being returned to China, according to the pandas’ current home, Ahtari Zoo.
The zoo, a private company, invested 8 million euros (about 9 million US dollars) in animal housing facilities and faced annual costs of 1.5 million euros for its upkeep, including a security fee paid to China by Ahtari President Risto Sivonen.
The zoo had hoped the pandas would draw visitors to its location in central Finland, but last year it said it had run up mounting debts as the expedition curbed the epidemic and was considering their return.
According to the zoo, rising inflation added to costs, and the Finnish government rejected requests for state funding in 2023.
In all, negotiations to get the animals back lasted three years, Sivonen said.
“Now we’ve reached a point where the Chinese say we can do it,” Sivonen said.
A spokesperson for Finland’s foreign ministry said the return of the pandas was a business decision by the zoo that did not involve the Finnish government and should not affect relations between the two countries.
Despite China’s efforts to help the zoo, the two countries eventually reached a joint decision to return the pandas after friendly consultations, the Chinese embassy in Helsinki said in a statement to Reuters.
