February 20, 2024
SEOUL – Giant panda Fu Bao, who has been the darling of animal lovers in South Korea, will be on display for the public at Everland until March 3, the South Korean amusement park said Monday.
Fu Bao will then be kept in a separate space at the park’s Panda World for a month to undergo preparations for her overseas transfer to the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan Province in early April.
The female giant panda, the first of her kind to be born in South Korea, is scheduled to return to China in April under the international agreement concerning the conservation of endangered species. Giant pandas are a bear species endemic to China, which since the 1980s has adopted a policy that the species can be loaned — with a fee — to zoos in other countries.
China also has ownership of giant pandas born outside of the country, as in the case of Fu Bao.
Fu Bao, born in July 2020, has been slated to return to China before the age four, which is the age when giant pandas reach maturity. Her parents, Ai Bao and Le Bao, were sent to South Korea in 2016 on a 15 year contract.
Aio Bao gave birth to Fu Bao’s twin sisters Rui Bao and Hui Bao in July of last year, who have been visible to the public since Jan. 4 of this year.
Prior to Fu Bao’s departure, Everland said it plans to display the panda to the public all-day during the operating hours of the Panda World from Feb. 1-3. The public could previously visit her only in the afternoon.