Hong Kong’s newborn twin pandas will remain in city, with 2 new adults set to arrive in September

Hong Kong was on Friday celebrating the “miraculous” birth of twin panda cubs, with officials adding to the excitement by revealing they will remain in the city while a new adult pair are on track to arrive from mainland China in late September, bringing the total to six. Much to people’s surprise, Ocean Park’s beloved Ying Ying gave birth to a pair of twins, a male and female, on Thursday morning, becoming the world’s oldest first-time giant panda mother. Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung, who returned to Hong Kong from Sichuan province after finalising arrangements for two pandas that Beijing has gifted to the city, said the pair were expected to arrive by the end of next month. He also described the condition of the newborn twins in Ocean Park as stable. “The baby pandas need special care because they are tiny and need to be taken care of in terms of checking temperature and feeding, and experts from Ocean Park and mainland China are closely handling this,” Yeung said. Park chairman Paulo Pong Kin-yee, who travelled with Yeung to Sichuan, said the arrival of the twins brought great joy to Hong Kong and he repeatedly expressed his gratitude for a “miraculous birth”. “We are fortunate, at a time when we are discussing bringing in two giant pandas to Hong Kong, our daughter-in-law Ying Ying gave birth to twins. We are so grateful for the miraculous birth,” he said. Pong said Ying Ying spent most of the time resting after giving birth. Howard Chuk Hau-chung, head of zoological operations and conservation at the park, said Ying Ying was naturally moody during pregnancy so vets could not easily perform ultrasound checks on her until several days before the birth of the twins. The female cub was born first, followed by the male. He said the first three or four days after birth were critical for the cubs’ survival, during which their weight would decline slightly. “The cubs are fragile now, especially the female cub. She is relatively weaker in terms of not eating regularly and the noises she first made when born also reflect that she is not as strong as the male,” Chuk said. Pandas born in the wild had a lower mortality rate, he noted, but Ying Ying’s cubs would be under the care of an expert team. “In the wild, sometimes mothers give up on the weaker cub because she only has energy to care for one,” he said. “We are quite confident we can provide the best husbandry and welfare management to the cubs.” Asked when the cubs would meet the public, the park said it would reveal details in due course. Under China’s “panda diplomacy”, a pair of adults are loaned to a country as a gesture of goodwill. However, any cubs born there are moved to the mainland by the age of four and remain under China’s ownership. However, these loan arrangements only apply to foreign countries whereas Ying Ying and Le Le were a gift to Hong Kong from Beijing in 2007. Pong said as the cubs were born in Hong Kong, they would stay in the city. Yeung, meanwhile, confirming an earlier Post report, said the two new adult pandas would undergo a month-long quarantine in Sichuan before being transported to Hong Kong by flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways. The pandas would have to undergo another month of quarantine and observation before they were ready to greet Hongkongers, he added. “We estimate they will be ready to meet the public by December,” Yeung said. With the city set to be home to six pandas, Yeung said, Ocean Park would need new facilities to accommodate the animals. However, he said the park had time to make arrangements as cubs could live with their mothers in the same enclosure until they were three years old. “We have the next one to two years to work out their living arrangements,” he said. Earlier in the day, city officials, Ocean Park chiefs and Sichuan authorities formalised relocation arrangements for the pair at the Dujiangyan base of the China Conservation and Research Centre for Giant Pandas. The parties signed an agreement which detailed the cooperation between the two sides in panda care, breeding research and education. Pong said the agreement marked a big step forward in bringing back the pair of pandas to Hong Kong. “We are upgrading facilities at Ocean Park to enable new experiences for visitors and locals,” he said. On July 1, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu revealed that Beijing would send a new pair of giant pandas to Hong Kong to mark the 27th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese sovereignty, adding that the bears would arrive within months. The birth of the cubs came just a day before Ying Ying turned 19 – equivalent to 57 human years – making her the world’s oldest first-time giant panda mum. She and Le Le had mated naturally at Ocean Park in March, with the park keeping her pregnancy a secret until a day after she delivered the cubs.

Hong Kong’s newborn twin pandas will remain in city, with 2 new adults set to arrive in September

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}First three or four days after birth are critical for the cubs’ survival, Ocean Park official says

First three or four days after birth are critical for the cubs’ survival, Ocean Park official says