Ya Ya is coming home, not a moment too soon

Ya Ya, a female giant panda who has been at the Memphis Zoo for 20 years, left the the U.S. state of Tennessee on April 26 local time and will arrive Shanghai, China on April 27.

To her fans around the world, it is not a moment too soon for Ya Ya's long-awaited trip home.

"The people of China welcome Ya Ya back home, much awaited. Come back, eat well, drink well and nourish the skin," one social media user posted on Weibo.

Ya Ya will spend a month in quarantine in Shanghai before taking up residence in Beijing Zoo, according to the latest announcement from the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens.

Ya Ya, a female giant panda who has been at the Memphis Zoo for 20 years, left the the U.S. state of Tennessee on April 26 local time and will arrive Shanghai, China on April 27.

To her fans around the world, it is not a moment too soon for Ya Ya's long-awaited trip home.

"The people of China welcome Ya Ya back home, much awaited. Come back, eat well, drink well and nourish the skin," one social media user posted on Weibo.

Ya Ya will spend a month in quarantine in Shanghai before taking up residence in Beijing Zoo, according to the latest announcement from the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens.

Despite speculation over whether the pandas were mistreated, the Memphis Zoo has repeatedly said their condition was stable considering their age.

The deputy director of the Memphis Zoo, Lauren Kasaky, said the zoo prepared Ya Ya different kinds of bamboo, with supplementary food including sugar cane, grapes and cookies. The amount of food changed with the season.

Normally she eats a piece of sugar cane every morning. Ya Ya's favorite food is grapes, but she was only given 100-gram portions, Hannah Crossfield, caretaker of the Memphis Zoo said.

"After all she is a giant panda and her main food needs to be bamboo to keep her healthy. In terms of bamboo preference, Ya Ya likes the leafy variety," she explained.

The Memphis Zoo records the time, type and weight of food provided daily, as well as various pieces of health information, and all the data is summarized into monthly health reports and sent back to China, a veterinarian at the Beijing Zoo said.

Preparation before returning home

On April 14, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that a Chinese expert and two employees at the Beijing Zoo were working with the Memphis Zoo for the preparation of Ya Ya's relocation. Upon arrival at the U.S. zoo, veterinarians from the Beijing Zoo assessed Ya Ya's health and finalized preparations for her trip home.

"In order to look after Ya Ya better after returning to China, we had conducted interactions and learned some training gestures and training commands from our counterparts from the Memphis Zoo," said the Beijing Zoo personnel.

"We gained a comprehensive understanding of the Memphis Zoo's feeding details and feeding environment, familiarized ourselves with Ya Ya's feeding methods, feed composition, behavioral training and daily physical examinations, and also interacted with her to some degree," veterinarian of the Beijing Zoo told Xinhua.

"When pandas live in the wild, their life expectancy is around 20 years. If we look after them in zoos, maybe the life expectancy will be 25 years or even longer. So Ya-Ya is now 23 years old. It's like a human being in her 80s," Zhao Zhonghua, the World Animal Protection's Beijing representative, told CGTN.

Despite speculation over whether the pandas were mistreated, the Memphis Zoo has repeatedly said their condition was stable considering their age.

The deputy director of the Memphis Zoo, Lauren Kasaky, said the zoo prepared Ya Ya different kinds of bamboo, with supplementary food including sugar cane, grapes and cookies. The amount of food changed with the season.

Normally she eats a piece of sugar cane every morning. Ya Ya's favorite food is grapes, but she was only given 100-gram portions, Hannah Crossfield, caretaker of the Memphis Zoo said.

"After all she is a giant panda and her main food needs to be bamboo to keep her healthy. In terms of bamboo preference, Ya Ya likes the leafy variety," she explained.

The Memphis Zoo records the time, type and weight of food provided daily, as well as various pieces of health information, and all the data is summarized into monthly health reports and sent back to China, a veterinarian at the Beijing Zoo said.

Preparation before returning home

On April 14, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that a Chinese expert and two employees at the Beijing Zoo were working with the Memphis Zoo for the preparation of Ya Ya's relocation. Upon arrival at the U.S. zoo, veterinarians from the Beijing Zoo assessed Ya Ya's health and finalized preparations for her trip home.

"In order to look after Ya Ya better after returning to China, we had conducted interactions and learned some training gestures and training commands from our counterparts from the Memphis Zoo," said the Beijing Zoo personnel.

"We gained a comprehensive understanding of the Memphis Zoo's feeding details and feeding environment, familiarized ourselves with Ya Ya's feeding methods, feed composition, behavioral training and daily physical examinations, and also interacted with her to some degree," veterinarian of the Beijing Zoo told Xinhua.

"When pandas live in the wild, their life expectancy is around 20 years. If we look after them in zoos, maybe the life expectancy will be 25 years or even longer. So Ya-Ya is now 23 years old. It's like a human being in her 80s," Zhao Zhonghua, the World Animal Protection's Beijing representative, told CGTN.

（CGTN）