Edinburgh Zoo pandas: public say farewell after 12 years

Edinburgh Evening News

Edinburgh’s beloved giant pandas will be on show one last time today after spending 12 years in the Capital’s zoo.  Pandas Yang Guang and Tian Tian arrived at Edinburgh Zoo in 2011 as part of a 10-year exchange programme that was later extended by the Covid-19 pandemic. Visitors will be able to see the adorable pair for the last time today before they enter quarantine and depart for China next week.  The last day of visiting hours will run between 10.30am and 3.30pm today.  Video courtesy of RZSS

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00:30 - Definitely a mix of emotions at the moment.

00:51 You know, we're spending a lot of time getting ready

00:53 for their fight and things like that.

00:57 I think, you know, as we get closer,

01:01 we're starting to just be able,

01:04 maybe kind of recognize the feeling a bit more

01:07 that it's, you know, we'll come to the end

01:10 and we're, you know, I think everybody's having their,

01:13 starting just to feel a wee bit sad about it.

01:16 And, you know, a lot of us have worked with them

01:18 from when they first arrived

01:21 or really intensely for the time that we've been here.

01:24 So it's, yeah, it's a very odd one.

01:28 A big part of the time we've been here

01:32 is the conservation work and research effort

01:36 that we've been able to contribute to and help with.

01:38 And we've discovered a lot of information

01:42 to do with their reproduction,

01:44 to do with their diet, their bamboo,

01:46 and nutrients and stuff like that, that we get from that.

01:49 So it's been, you know, almost twofold.

01:52 We've got the conservation and research effort

01:55 that we've had, but also on the husbandry side of things.

01:57 We've learned so much from working

01:59 with a very specialist species of bear.

02:02 So it's, yeah, it's going to be completely odd

02:09 and different without them being here.

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