At the private zoo in Ahtari, located in central Finland, about 330 kilometers from Helsinki, management has reached an agreement with Beijing authorities to return the giant panda pair Lumi and Pyry to China, ahead of the loan expiration date of 2033. The main reason? The unsustainable costs of caring for and maintaining the two animals.
Finland returns panda couple to China: a precious gift that has become too expensive
The giant panda couple Lumi, whose name means "snow" in Finnish, and Pyry, which means "snowfall," arrived in January 2018 as a symbol of China's "panda diplomacy" and to celebrate Finland's 100th anniversary of independence in 2017. The Ahtari Zoo had invested over €8 million in the construction of a dedicated panda area, the "Snowhouse," with the aim of attracting visitors and improving the tourism offerings of the remote nature reserve.
Extremely high annual costs and economic difficulties
Maintaining the two pandas costs approximately €1.5 million annually, including the purchase and airlift of bamboo from the Netherlands, their main food. In recent years, the decline in visitors caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and rising interest rates have severely compromised the economic sustainability of the zoo, which is a private facility and receives no state funding. China has attempted to support the zoo financially, including by soliciting donations from Chinese companies in Finland, but the economic impact in recent years has been insurmountable.
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Departure and quarantine
The two giant pandas, once returned, as per health protocol, were quarantined for a month at the end of October and were repatriated to China at the end of 2024, eight years ahead of schedule. This decision was purely a commercial one by the zoo management and does not involve the Finnish government.
Panda diplomacy under pressure
The loan is part of diplomatic agreements between China and Finland, established in 2017 with the official visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping. In recent years, several European and American zoos have returned pandas for similar reasons, including the famous Smithsonian in Washington and facilities in Berlin and Edinburgh.
"Panda diplomacy," born to strengthen international relations, is now under pressure from economic and geopolitical factors, but it remains a crucial symbol for the conservation of the species, which has gone from "endangered" to "vulnerable" thanks in part to the global attention generated by these programs.