Pandemonium in Finland as zoo sends expensive bears back to China

A struggling Finnish zoo will send two pandas home to China later this year as they were too expensive to keep around.

Huá Bào and his female companion Jín Bàobào first came to Ähtäri Zoo in central Finland in 2018 but failed to breed, while the zoo was buffeted by financial headwinds caused by the coronavirus pandemic and rising inflation sparked by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

The greedy pandas guzzle up to 12 kilos of bamboo every day, which had to be shipped in from the Netherlands and cost the zoo around €100,000 per yer alone, according to local media.

Last year, the Finnish government drew up a plan to provide additional cash to keep the pandas around, but after criticism the funding proposal was withdrawn.

A spokesperson for Finland’s foreign ministry told Reuters the decision to return the pandas was made by the zoo based on financial considerations and didn’t involve the Finnish government, adding that it shouldn’t impact relations between Beijing and Helsinki.

China has used so-called panda diplomacy to boost its image around the world, donating the fluffy bears to foreign zoos — though some animal parks in countries including the U.S. and U.K. have shipped them back to China in recent years.

Sauli Niinistö, then-president of Finland, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping signed a deal for the pandas in spring 2017 during Xi’s visit to Finland.