Sadness as first giant panda cub born in France set to leave for China

The first giant panda cub to be born in France was set to leave for China on Tuesday (July 25), prompting “a twinge of sadness” from his zookeepers.

Yuan Meng was born in August 2017 at the Beauval Zoo in Saint-Aignan (Loir-et-Cher). His parents, Huan Huan and Yuan Zi, are on loan to France from China. He was the first cub to be born on French soil, and his name means ‘the accomplishment of a dream’.

A final ‘bamboo-eating goodbye ceremony’ was held at the zoo on Monday (July 24).

He had been due to travel earlier, but the trip was delayed by Covid, and then later delayed again recently due to “delays with administrative documents”. The parents are due to remain at Beauval until at least 2027.

The 120kg animal will travel in a crate specially designed for him, on a China Airlines plane, attended by vets.

Rodolphe Delord, the zoo’s director, told FranceInfo: “We have been getting him used to going in and out of it and sleeping in it, over the past few weeks. The case will be in an air-conditioned van, escorted by the Gendarmerie Nationale, to the airport at Roissy Charles de Gaulle.”

Yuan Meng will then travel with vets who have worked with him since he was born, as well as a nurse who was present at his birth. He will have 90 kilograms of bamboo to eat throughout the 12-hour journey.

In China, Yuan Meng will be received by the Chengdu giant panda reproductive centre, and will later be mated with a female panda with whom he has no parental link. This is “needed for the genetic diversity of the species”, said Mr Delord.

The director admitted that the zookeeper team felt “a twinge of sadness” at Yuan Meng’s departure, even though they always knew that he would leave eventually. All giant pandas officially belong to China, even if they are born abroad.

Members of the public lined the streets to wave goodbye to the panda as it travelled in its van.

“Pandas fascinate the public,” he said, “And they are a very strong symbol of friendship between France and China. [They represent] endangered species and animals at risk of disappearing.

“[They can] raise public awareness of the importance of biodiversity conservation and of saving these extraordinary animals,” said Mr Delord.

The director is set to travel to Chengdu to visit Yuan Meng in November and has invited President Emmanuel Macron’s wife, Brigitte, to go with him. Mrs Macron is the panda’s godmother and was present at his baptism in 2018.

Read more: 'Fluff ball' baby panda now open for public viewing

Since Yuan Meng’s birth, two more pandas have been born at the zoo in Beauval; twins Huanlili and Yuandudu, who were born on August 2, 2021. They will also travel to China “within the next two to three years”, said Mr Delord.

The director added that he hoped more pandas would be born at Beauval in future, and added that he hoped that Yuan Meng’s eventual children “would be able to be released in the forests of Sichuan [China], as is currently done, to protect and save pandas in their natural habitat”.

There are currently around 1,800 giant pandas in the Sichuan forests, up from 1,600 in the early 2000s, showing that the breeding and care efforts are working to boost the population.

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