The wait for the new giant panda pair at Vienna’s Schönbrunn Zoo is over: the animals arrived in Vienna on Wednesday morning. Zoo director Stephan Hering-Hagenbeck traveled to China himself to take part in the farewell ceremony for the female Lan Yun (“Grace of an Orchid”) and the male He Feng (“Breeze of Lotus”) and to accompany them on their journey to their new home.
“We are very proud to commit ourselves to the protection and preservation of the giant panda and its habitat,” said Hering-Hagenbeck. The pandas are to serve as ambassadors for their endangered wild counterparts. To ease the transition, their familiar keeper accompanied them to Austria and will remain for a while. Visitors will have to be patient: the pandas will not be on display until mid-May, during which they will undergo quarantine and acclimate in their indoor enclosure.
After the acclimation period, Lan Yun and He Feng will be officially introduced in a ceremony, and the newly redesigned panda habitat will reopen. Both animals were born in 2020 at stations of the Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP). Adult giant pandas are solitary, so the two will occupy separate enclosures.
Before departure, head keeper Gerlinde Hillebrand and keeper Renate Haider spent a week at the Dujiangyan panda station to get to know the animals better. The journey to Vienna went smoothly: during the direct flight, Haider and station veterinarian Yang Haidi had access to the cargo hold to care for the pandas with bamboo, steamed bamboo cakes, and water. At Vienna Airport, a specialized freight team ensured a seamless arrival and rapid transfer to the zoo.
Last autumn, the zoo bid farewell to its popular pandas Yang Yang and Yuan Yuan, who returned to China for their retirement as planned. China always loans giant pandas to international zoos.
In the 1980s, only about 1,100 giant pandas remained in the wild in China. Thanks to strict protection measures by the Chinese government, the population has grown to about 1,900. International partners like Schönbrunn Zoo play an important role. Since 2003, the zoo has cooperated with the China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) on panda conservation. Both sides maintain close exchange on protecting the species and its habitat, scientific research, and reintroduction projects. In June last year, the partnership was extended for another ten years.
