Beijing only loans pandas to foreign zoos, which must usually return any offspring within a few years of their birth to join the country’s breeding programme.
Fu Bao welcomed her younger twin sisters last year, named Rui Bao and Hui Bao, whose births also triggered an outpouring of excitement online in South Korea.
Under an agreement between Seoul and Beijing, Fu Bao’s parents can stay in South Korea until 2031, but her twin sisters, like Fu Bao herself, must return to China before they turn four years old.
“Fu Bao left Everland at around 11 am,” the zoo said in a statement, adding the panda will leave for China via the Incheon International Airport on a chartered plane.
Before leaving Everland, the panda bid farewell to some 6,000 South Korean fans at a brief ceremony.
She was moved on a special non-vibrating vehicle typically used for semiconductor transportation.
Zookeeper Kang Cheol-won, who is famous in the South for his bonding with Everland’s pandas and is widely referred to as their “grandpa”, read out a letter at the ceremony, the park said.
Kang accompanied the panda on the journey to China arriving at the country’s Shenshuping Panda Base in Sichuan Province, Everland said. Fu Bao is today, 5th of April in quarantine in China and is said to be in good health.
“You will be forever (my) baby panda, even after 10 or 100 years. Thank you for coming to grandpa. I love you Fu Bao,” Kang said in his letter, referring to himself as her grandpa.
Source: https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOahrYi84Pg
