Faced by severe financial difficulties, Ähtäri Zoo has decided to return its two resident giant pandas to China.
The pandas have been on lease from the Chinese government to the zoo in South Ostrobothnia since 2018 as part of its international endangered species protection programme.
According to the zoo, the decision to repatriate the animals is the sum of numerous developments. It was influenced by factors such as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a decline in tourist numbers, inflation and rising interest rates following the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
In addition to returning the pandas, Ähtäri Zoo has announced it is planning to apply for debt restructuring.
A 15-year conservation agreement was signed with China for the pandas. The male panda Huá Bào, or Pyry, and the female panda Jín Bàobào, or Lumi, came to Ähtäri Zoo in 2018.
During their first year, the pandas attracted a large number of visitors, around 275,000, almost doubled the number before they took up residence.
No success breeding
The zoo tried several times to get the pandas to breed.
Lumi's fertility was monitored and when she came into her brief periods of estrus, the panda enclosure was closed to the public to ensure privacy. The zoo even purchased a neonatal incubator for the cubs, just in case.
However, no cubs were born.
After the coronavirus pandemic broke out, the zoo began to experience financial difficulties.
The zoo was closed for more than two months and went through several rounds of staff reductions. When Russia invaded Ukraine, consumer prices jumped, cutting into family budgets for recreation, such as visits to the zoo.
The zoo's own financial problems were not helped by the fact that pandas are extremely expensive to maintain.
The feeding, housing and care of the two pandas, plus the species protection fee, cost around 1.5 million euros a year. An adult panda eats around 12 kilos of bamboo every day, which had to be shipped to Ähtäri all the way from the Netherlands. Bamboo alone has cost the zoo around 100,000 euros a year.
Only about 600,000 euros of these costs were covered by ticket revenues.
The City of Ähtäri owns more than 99 percent of the company operating the zoo, so it also has been bearing the costs.
In January 2023, the Ministry of Finance planned to provide up to five million euros in funding for Ähtäri's pandas. However, the plan drew criticism and funding was cancelled.
This was the last straw for the zoo. Although it continued to look for partners among both Finnish and Chinese companies interested in its endangered species protection programme, just days after the government funding collapsed, the zoo's board decided to start preparations to return the pandas to China ahead of schedule.
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