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full screen The male Pyry (whose real name is Hua Bao) at the zoo in Etseri on October 19 this year. Photo: Heikki Saukkomaa//Lehtikuva/AP/TT
The giant pandas Pyry and Lumi, who have lived in a zoo in Etseri in Finland since 2018, will be flown home to China on Friday, reports Finnish EPN.
The journey from the zoo to the airport took about five hours.
“We are now focusing on a calm and safe journey for the pandas, which has been prepared well in advance,” writes operations manager Arja Väliaho to EPN.
The male Pyry (Snöyra) and the female Lumi (Snö) came to Finland as a “gift” in connection with the country celebrating 100 years. The idea was that they would be leased by China for 15 years as part of an international program to protect the species.
But the pandas became too expensive to operate and in September of this year the zoo announced that they would be sent back before the end of the year.