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By APD Writer Maverick
JAKARTA, Sept. 22 (APD) — Indonesia was scheduled to welcome the arrival of a pair of Chinese giant panda next week as preparations related to the arrival were underway at present.
Arrival of the giant pandas, namely Cai Tao for the male and Hu Chun for the female, was resulted from Indonesia-China bilateral conservancy cooperation under breeding loan scheme whose talks have been initiated since 2010 when the two countries celebrated their 60 anniversary of diplomatic ties.
Signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) document was conducted by on August 1 last year by officials of China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) and Taman Safari Indonesia on in Guiyang, China.
Speaking in a press conference here on Friday Charge d’Affairs of China Embassy Sun Weide said that panda conservancy cooperation has been established with 15 countries since 1985.
Indonesia would become the 16th country to keep the Chinese endangered animal, adding the zoos keeping panda 20 across the world so far.
“I hope the giant pandas can live happily and healthy here, bringing cheering and happiness for Indonesian people and to further promote friendship of China and Indonesia people,” Sun said.
Cited to results of a research carried out by a Chinese agency from 2011 to 2014, panda population in China was detected at 1864 in 67 conservation centers, according to Sun. He added that 464 pandas had bred throughout last year.
Listia Kusumawardani, a senior official at the forestry ministry who represented director general of nature conservation at the ministry expressed the ministry’s gratitude over joint efforts conducted by parties in Indonesia and China to deliver the pandas.
“We are all very happy to welcome a pair of panda from China, we have took preparation to welcome them,” she said, adding that China-Indonesia joint research program under the panda conservancy cooperation would follow suit after the panda arrival.
The two giant panda were of 7 years old, already had health certificates issued by China’s Research Center for the Giant Panda (RCGP).
Cai Tao and Hu Chun would be transported to Indonesia on Sept. 28 from Chengdu, China, by Indonesian state-run airlines Garuda Indonesia in non-sedated condition.
A Garuda Indonesia official Sigit Muhartono said that Garuda Indonesia would use scheduled direct flight serving Chengdu to Bali’s Denpasar, allocating two valet spaces for panda cages in the plane’s belly cargo section.
“Delivery of the two pandas would be carried out under live animal cargo procedure. We would use Airbus A330-200 to transport them,” Sigit said, adding the airlines would highly prioritize safety during the delivery of the pandas which are regarded as one of China’s treasures.
He added that Garuda Indonesia would undertake re route procedure for the flight by stopping over in Jakarta to unload the pandas. It would shorten the flight time for the pandas to arrive in Indonesia, he added.
“We would stopover the flight in Jakarta before continuing to Denpasar, Bali. The panda’s flight would only take 6 hours and 50 minutes,” he said.
Founder of Taman Safari Indonesia, Jansen Manansang, said that Cai Tao and Hu Chun would undertake 1 month of
quarantine period prior to their delivery to Indonesia and another 1 month of quarantine period after they arrived in Indonesia.
He added that Taman Safari Indonesia has prepared recommended facilities for the two pandas, suitable for them to breed in Indonesia soil. The Indonesia’s landmark animal park is located in hilly area of Bogor, West Java province, near Jakarta.
Jansen said that the two panda park will have a particular section with total area of 5 hectare in the slope of a hill with a height of more than 1,500 meters above sea level. The area average temperatures were 17 degree celsius at night and 24 degree celsius on day time.
Four section of cages have also been prepared for the pandas, comprised of 2 inner cage, 1 breeding cage and 1 outer cage, he said, adding that the panda facilities in Indonesia would be the best in Southeast Asia region.
“We have also prepared veterinarians and keepers for those endangered animals who were trained in China particularly to treat the pandas,” he said, adding that bamboo fields have also been planted around the panda facility, providing varieties of bamboo for the panda dietary, he said.
Jansen said that after the quarantine period in Taman Safari Indonesia, the panda facilities were expectedly open for public at the end of October.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
