Adelaide Zoo farewells giant pandas Wang Wang and Fu Ni

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Adelaide has bid farewell to Australia’s giant panda pair Wang Wang and Fu Ni. It's the last time the duo will be in their public enclosure before they return to China with a new pair of pandas to arrive in December.

Transcript

00:00A last hurrah for the giant pandas.

00:05Visitors today gathering at Wong Wong and Foonie's enclosure ahead of their journey

00:10back to China.

00:11We actually got married here back in 2023, just over there.

00:17So we thought we'd come back and say goodbye one last time before they go away.

00:21Keepers will now focus on preparing the pair for their trip home.

00:24We're still working through all the final logistics, the health checks and the travel

00:28plans for the return.

00:31While many here are sad to be saying goodbye to the beloved duo, there's also a sense

00:35of excitement with Adelaide's new panda pair set to arrive next month.

00:40Obviously come to say goodbye and we'll come back and welcome the new ones, won't we?

00:44What are your hopes for our new pair?

00:48Baby pandas.

00:49Baby pandas would be amazing.

00:50They will need to do a quarantine period, so it's likely to be sort of middle of January

00:55before the public can get to meet Elon and Hsinchu.

00:58And there's another new addition to South Australia's zoos.

01:02Asian elephant Burma is settling into her new Monato Safari Park home.

01:06It has been exploring the habitat this morning, eating, drinking, pooing and weeing normally.

01:13So yeah, I mean what you're hearing from me, right, is a massive amount of relief.

01:17It was a journey months in the making and a mammoth collaboration between staff from

01:22both Auckland and Adelaide Zoo.

01:24None of us knew how she would react, leaving that habitat for the first time in what, 34

01:29years.

01:30But it was incredible.

01:31Still, she was calm.

01:32Four more elephants are due to arrive from Perth and Sydney in the coming months.

01:36I would say by middle of next year, we would hope to have a herd of five at Monato.

01:41It's a very good time to be an animal lover in South Australia.

01:44A time of comings and goings and new hope for the future of both species.

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