Fans bid farewell to only giant pandas in the UK

With the only giant pandas, Yang Guang and Tian Tian, in the United Kingdom set to return to China in early December after a 12-year stay at Scotland's Edinburgh Zoo, crowds have been thronging the panda enclosure to bid them farewell.

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, the conservation charity that owns and manages Edinburgh Zoo, said on Nov 17 that the pandas will leave for China in the first week of December, but the exact date and time of departure will not be announced because of safety and security reasons.

Yang Guang, whose name means sunshine, and Tian Tian, whose name translates to sweetie, arrived at the Edinburgh Zoo in December 2011 as part of a 10-year agreement between the zoological society in Scotland and the China Wildlife Conservation Association. The agreement was later extended by two years because of the pandemic.

Since their arrival, Yang Guang and Tian Tian have garnered a great deal of public interest, and the BBC billed the panda enclosure as a "rock star" attraction that has been at the top of the must-see list of more than 600,000 visitors to the zoo each year.

Vanessa Moreland-Strange and Andrew Strange, a couple living near Edinburgh, brought their two children to the zoo recently to say goodbye to the pandas. The family told China Daily they had visited the panda enclosure 28 times since 2018 and "every time was the best time".

To bid farewell to Yang Guang and Tian Tian, the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland has been holding a series of events since January that have proved immensely popular.

Activities priced between 30 and 500 pounds ($38 and $630) included a one-hour guided tour and behind-the-scenes experience to help the keepers feed Yang Guang. The tickets sold out in just 90 minutes.

The zoological society members said the sales raised more than $53,280, and the money will be used by the charity to help save wildlife from extinction.