Indonesia receives giant pandas from China 

APD NEWS

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By APD Writer Maverick

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JAKARTA, Sept. 28 (APD) — **Indonesia received two giant pandas from China on Thursday as the male and female Chinese endangered animals landed in a Jakarta airport after enduring about 5-hour direct flight from a China’s Chengdu airport.

Put in two different cages, the two pandas were warmly welcomed by Indonesian officials who already waited for them in the airport shortly after being unloaded from the plane’s cargo section.

Indonesia Forestry and Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya expected the two pandas can breed within one year in Indonesia during the 10-year breeding loan program before being sent back to China.

“We expect then to have babies within one year. The breeding loan document mentioned that they would be sent back to China after raising their children 2 or 3 years in Indonesia,” Siti said in the airport.

The minister said that Cai Tao and Hu Chun, whose ages were 7 years old, have entered mature age for copulation and have babies.

Indonesia has prepared excellent facilities for the two pandas in a safari park, Taman Safari Indonesia, located in Cisarua, a higher ground of Bogor municipality near Jakarta.

The location has a height of above 1,500 meters above sea level, suited the environment of giant panda to live.

The Indonesian safari park has also planted bamboo in fields around the facility that takes an area of 5 hectares in its premises, assuring sufficient

staple food for the panda.

It has also build 4 rooms for the pandas originated from China’s Wolong Panda Base, consisted inner and outer rooms and a particular room for their reproduction.

Charge D’affaire of Chinese Embassy in Jakarta Sun Weide said earlier that the panda arrival would mark increased cooperation between the two countries on joint research of the endangered species,

Indonesia has previously shared its expertise in breeding the Sumatran tigers with China.

He added that Indonesia would become the 16th country to host and help breed the giant pandas.

The panda pairing was transported with Indonesia’s state-run airlines Garuda Indonesia flight 887, whose plane was adorned with panda-themed decorations to welcome the pandas.

Each passenger of the plane received a t-shirt emblazoned with ‘I am flying with panda’ phrase. Garuda also put decoration with the same phrase in each of seat in the plane.

Regarding the task to transport the two pandas, Garuda has re-routed its actual Chengdu-Denpasar, that may take up to 9 hours, so as to shorten the flight time, assuring the comfort of the pandas during the flight.

“We get the honor to transport the giant panda to Indonesia. We are fully responsible over the safety of the two pandas during transportation,” Garuda Indonesia Cargo Director Sigit Muhartono said.

Two veterinarians and two keepers from Indonesia and China Conservation and Research Centre for Giant Panda (CCRCGP) escorted the two pandas during the flight to assure their safety.

Garuda applied cargo procedure for live animal, used Airbus A 330-200 wide body plane to transport Cao Tai and Hu Chun to Jakarta.

The two pandas would be put in 1-month quarantine period in the Indonesian safari park before ready for public display in October or November this year.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)