The board of Ähtäri Zoo, currently home to two giant pandas named Lumi and Pyry on loan from China, has decided the rare animals need to be sent back to China, due to a lack of resources to cover the roughly 1.5 million euros per year it costs to maintain the animals. The two giant pandas arrived in Finland in 2018 after a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping: the loan arrangement was meant to be for a duration of 15 years. The zoo is almost entirely owned by the city of Ähtäri in South Ostrobothnia (145 km north of Tampere). Both the Agricultural and the Finance Ministry’s funding arrangements to help the zoo’s panda maintenance costs fell through earlier last week. Decisions about a timetable for returning the giant pandas will be made next 28 February during a meeting of the zoo’s board.
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