Four giant pandas picnic in China — as two friends are flying back from Scotland after 12 years
FOUR giant pandas picnic in China — awaiting two friends flying home after 12 years in Scotland.
The returning pair were led into crates by keepers and placed on a plane at Edinburgh Airport after a stint at the city’s zoo.
Hopes female Tian Tian would breed with Yang Guang came to nothing.
Michael Livingstone, a senior animal keeper at the zoo, will join them on the journey.
He said: “They’re very different to look after.
“As a team we have looked after many different species of bear.
“We were fairly confident we knew what kind of hurdles we might need to cross and jump over for looking after panda.
“And when they arrived it was completely different to what we thought.
“They are a very sensitive, very specialised species so we very quickly learned all the different things we needed to do with them or around them.
“I can speak for myself and the other keepers in the team at the zoo that have looked after them it’s going to be a bit of a sad and emotional time.
“It is sad for us that they are going back, I think it’s always been one of those things that’s just been in the future and now we’re at the point where it’s actually happening.”