HELSINKI, Finland — Finland will return two pandas to China in November, more than eight years earlier than planned, because the zoo that keeps them can no longer cover the costs of caring for the animals, the zoo’s director told Reuters on Tuesday.
The pandas, named Rumi and Pilly, were brought to Finland in January 2018, a few months after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the Nordic countries and signed a joint agreement on panda conservation.
Since its founding in 1949, the People’s Republic of China has sent pandas to foreign zoos to strengthen trade ties, cement diplomatic relations and boost the country’s international image.
The agreement with Finland was for the panda to stay for 15 years, but the Ähtari Zoo, where the panda currently lives, said the animal will immediately go into quarantine for a month before being sent back to China.
Ahtali Zoo president Risto Sivonen said his privately run zoo has invested more than 8 million euros ($9 million) in the animals’ homes and pays 1.5 million euros a year in maintenance costs, including a conservation fee to China.
The zoo had hoped the pandas would draw tourists to the central Finland site, but said last year that travel restrictions caused by the pandemic had left it in debt and it was considering reopening.
The zoo said rising inflation has caused costs to rise and the Finnish government rejected its request for state funding for 2023.
Negotiations to return the animals lasted three years in total, Sivonen said.
“We’ve now reached the point where the Chinese side says it’s possible,” Sivonen said.
A spokesman for the Finnish foreign ministry said the return of the pandas was a business decision for the zoo that did not involve the Finnish government and would not affect relations between the two countries.
Despite Chinese efforts to support the zoo, the two countries ultimately agreed to return the pandas after friendly consultations, the Chinese embassy in Helsinki said in a statement to Reuters.
