Nature | Macau’s new panda pair to meet public on June 1

Macau’s panda pavilion in Coloane’s Seac Pai Van Park will close from tomorrow to May 31 to undertake full preparations to welcome the new pair of giant pandas, the city’s Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau said in a press release Friday evening.
During the closed period, the staff will conduct intensive cleaning and disinfection, as well as conducting opening rehearsals. Meanwhile, the facility will be updated to provide visitors with better services.
In order to help the giant pandas adapt to the new environment without undue stress, the giant panda pavilion will limit the number of visitors from June 1 to 30.  There will be six sessions daily for tourists to visit in batches, each batch restricted from 50 to 100 tickets, with 10 minutes of visiting time.
The pandas arrived in Macau on April 30 and will meet the public on June 1 after a 30-day quarantine on Oscar Farm in Coloane Island. Specialist Yang Zhi from Chengdu’s Giant Panda Breeding Research Base told reporters earlier that the panda pair were in a stable condition after their two-hour flight from Sichuan Province. Two Macau vets had spent some time in Chengdu to bond with the new pandas, and the animals seem to have a better appetite for Guangdong bamboo here.
A male panda, No. 726, and a female, No. 667, were chosen from 55 candidates following a three-month selection. The pandas, both 110 kg in weight, are also named Kaikai and Xinxin like the previous resident pandas. The former Kaikai and Xinxin came to Macau as gifts for the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Macau’s return to China. Xinxin died of kidney failure in June last year.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said the central government would present a new pair of giant pandas to the MSAR and expressed hopes that “they would grow up healthily and bring happiness to Macau people” when he visited the city in December 2014. Xinhua