Panda ambassadors visit Beauval Zoo to wrap up conservation tour

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Panda ambassadors visit Beauval Zoo to wrap up conservation tour

(Xinhua) 12:52, September 20, 2013

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Three panda ambassadors will visit Beauval Zoo, the French home of Huan Huan and Yuan Zi, two giant pandas on loan from China, on Friday during the last leg of a global tour promoting the conservation of the endangered species.

The Beauval stop comes after the ambassadors, Erica Chen from China, Melissa Katz from the United States, and Jerome Pouille from France, travelled to see pandas in Singapore, Atlanta, Washington and Edinburgh to spread a firm message on protection.

They are winners of a global contest, beating 1.16 million competitors for the "cute job" of raising public awareness of the need to protect giant pandas, the most endangered animal species in the world, through their travels, site visits and online interaction with panda fans.

The trio of ambassadors embarked on the Global Panda Conservation Tour on Aug. 23 in Hong Kong and will finish up in Beauval, where they are expected to exchange ideas with tourists, and share their personal experience and knowledge gained from training at the Chengdu Panda Base.

They will also introduce French panda lovers to ways to better raise and protect giant pandas and other endangered animals.

The two pandas, Huan Huan and Yuan Zi, were both born in 2008 and were flown to Paris on Jan. 15, 2012, from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, southwest China, to fulfil a ten-year conservation and research agreement between China and France.

The cute newcomers were moved to their enclosures in the zoo park of Beauval (ZooParc de Bauval) and went on show to the public in February. Since then, the pair have attracted a wealth of visitors, and have been adored and treated dearly by both zoo carers and the public.

Pandas, also known as giant pandas, are native to China and are one of the most endangered animal species in the world. About 1,600 pandas live in the wild, while more than 300 live in captivity.

（Editor：WangXin、Yao Chun）