General News

2 Pandas Leave Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo for China

Courtesy of the Tokyo Zoological Park Society
Ri Ri is in a transport cage before being loaded onto the truck.

Jiji Press

17:55 JST, September 29, 2024

Tokyo (Jiji Press)—Two giant pandas left Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo in the early hours of Sunday for their flight back to China.

Dozens of people gathered near the zoo to see off the beloved pandas, waving to the truck that left the zoo around 4 a.m. to take the pair—Ri Ri and Shin Shin—to Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.

“We’ll miss the two…but we’re more thankful for them,” Ueno Zoo head Yutaka Fukuda told reporters after their departure. “Since their arrival in 2011, the two have brought smiles to many people’s faces.”

Ri Ri and Shin Shin both have symptoms of high blood pressure and are slated to receive medical treatment in China, their home country.

Shin Shin gave birth to Xiang Xiang in 2017 and Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei in 2021. As Xiang Xiang was given to China in 2023, the twins are now the only pandas left at Ueno Zoo.