SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A crowd of individuals, some weeping, gathered at a rain-soaked amusement park in South Korea to bid farewell to a beloved large panda earlier than her departure to China on Wednesday.
Fu Bao has been a significant attraction on the Everland theme park close to Seoul since she was born there in 2020 to pandas Ai Bao and Le Bao, who got here from China in 2016 on a 15-year lease program.
China sends pandas overseas as an indication of goodwill however maintains possession over the animals and their cubs. Many years of conservation efforts within the wild and research in captivity saved the species from extinction, rising its inhabitants from fewer than 1,000 at one time to greater than 1,800 within the wild and in captivity.
On Wednesday, many panda followers in South Korea braved rain to attend a farewell ceremony on the Everland park for Fu Bao, who was to be flown to China later within the day.
As a truck carrying Fu Bao slowly moved to a plaza within the rain, many guests sporting raincoats or holding umbrellas waved flags, shouted their parting messages and took pictures with their cellphones. Some loudly cried or wiped away tears.
The truck was adorned with an enormous image of Fu Bao and the message “It was a miracle that we met you. Thanks, Fu Bao.”
However she wasn’t proven to the general public on Wednesday. The park final confirmed her to the general public on March 3.
“You’re our child panda endlessly even when 10 years cross or 100 years cross,” zookeeper Kang Cheol-won mentioned in a speech through the ceremony. “Pricey all, Fu Bao is now leaving. Please, keep in mind Fu Bao for a protracted, very long time … and please don’t cry a lot!”
Fu Bao’s mom, Ai Bao, gave start final yr to female twin cubs, the primary panda twins born in South Korea.