On Tuesday, tearful Malaysians said goodbye to two panda cubs as management organized to send them to China after years of pause because of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Yi Yi and Sheng Yi, two panda cubs – born in 2018 and 2021 – were to be sent as part of a deal between the two nations to transport panda cubs born in captivity to China when they reach two years of age.
The female pandas are the descendants of Xing Xing and Liang Liang, animals Beijing lent to Kuala Lumpur in 2014 for a decade to mark 40 years of diplomatic ties. They will stay in the nation.
Monitoring videos of the animals at Malaysia’s National Zoo, panda lovers like 24-year-old Cindy Lai, a photographer amassed in expectancies of seeing a glance of the duo before their exit later in the day.
Cindy Lai said that it is an emotional goodbye and I feel very unhappy since I will not be able to see the two beautiful cubs. I will surely cry when they are loaded into the truck to be sent to the airport, she added
Tracey Lee was in tears as she remembered visiting the cubs every week to create TikTok videos.
I have been crying for many days at the house. I will not be able to visit them again, she told AFP.
An official familiar with the travel plan told AFP that two panda cubs, Yi Yi and Sheng Yi will be carried on a cargo flight to China’s Chengdu at 10:30 pm local time (1430 GMT).
A goodbye ceremony attended by the Chinese ambassador to Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur’s deputy environment minister was held at the zoo.
