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Due to a shortage of fresh bamboo because of travel and supply chain disruptions caused by the coronavirus crisis, the Calgary Zoo in Canada will relocate two pandas back to China where the perennial evergreen is in abundance.
The pandas, Er Shun and Da Mao, arrived in Canada in 2014 as part of a 10-year agreement with China. A limited number of flights between China and Canada and other transportation barriers have resulted in delays of the much-needed bamboo, which pandas feast on daily.
The zoo says it spent months trying to overcome obstacles to acquire a sufficient supply of bamboo, but the limits on flights proved to be too much.
“We believe the best and safest place for Er Shun and Da Mao to be during these challenging and unprecedented times is where bamboo is abundant and easy to access,” said Calgary Zoo President and CEO Dr. Clément Lanthier.
This 2018 file photo shows Da Mao, an adult male panda bear, looking on as media photograph him at the Calgary Zoo during the opening of its giant panda habitat, Panda Passage, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The zoo has decided to send two adult giant pandas back to China because the coronavirus epidemic has disrupted essential deliveries of fresh bamboo. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)
Adult pandas typically consume a daily average of 88 pounds of bamboo, which comprises 99 percent of the animal's nutritional requirements, the zoo said in a statement.
The zoo said it had worked with alternate bamboo suppliers to keep the pandas fed but slow delivery times, misdirected shipments, poor quality of the product that the pandas refused to eat and a limited supply hampered their efforts.
“I am continually amazed by the resourcefulness and dedication of our team,” said Lanthier. “Unfortunately, they are fighting against forces much greater than the Calgary Zoo. Even the Canadian government had to fly empty planes out of China.”
Some planes sent from Canada to China to pick up much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE) on behalf of the federal government went sent back empty after both aircraft were forced to wait on the ground for an extended period.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in April said that "severe restrictions" for how long an aircraft is allowed to wait on the ground in China forced the planes to take off empty.
The two pandas first lived in the Toronto Zoo upon arriving in Canada before being transferred to Calgary in 2018 with cubs Jia Panpan and Jia Yueyue. It was not clear if the cubs would also be traveling back to China.
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