A pair of pandas named, Yuanzai and Huanhuan from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding flew to France on Jan 15, 2012. This marks the beginning of the ten-year Sino-France cooperation for the giant panda international breeding program.

Yuanzai and Huanhuan were carried to the airport in a car before boarding the FedEx plane to France at 9:05 am.

Staff from the research base prepared sufficient amounts of food, such as bamboo shoots and apples to ensure their safety and health during the flight.

The pandas were cared for the whole journey by both a veterinarian from the Chengdu Research Base, and a worker from the Zoo Parc de Beauval in France.

FedEx deployed a Boeing 777 to send them from Chengdu to Paris, an estimated eleven hour long flight. After arriving at the Zoo Parc de Beauval, the pandas will be carried to a ceremony that marks the 48th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France. They will be under quarantine and an adaptation period for a month before meeting French tourists.

A send-off ceremony was held on the afternoon of Jan 14 in Chengdu. Officials from the State Forestry Administration, China Zoological Society, Sichuan Provincial Forestry Department and the Chengdu Municipal People’s Government were in attendance.