Taiwan zoo to reapply for mainland pandas
(Reuters)Updated: 2007-02-25 15:49
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Taipei - A Taiwan theme park will reapply this spring to bring over from the mainland a pair of giant pandas that the local government rejected last year for political reasons, a park manager said on Sunday.
The Leofoo Village Theme Park in Hsinchu County of northern Taiwan will ask the Taiwan authorities in March or April for permission to bring over two pandas from the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve Center in Sichuan Province to show eager visitors, who total about 1.1 million per year, marketing manager Albert Yuan said.
Mainland offered pandas named Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan -- words which said together mean "unite" -- in early 2006. The Taiwan authorities rejected the animals.
The 70-hectare theme park has examined technical reasons for Taiwan's rejection last year and believes it can do better now, Yuan said. The government said Leofoo lacked experience with pandas and had not traveled to Sichuan to examine the animals.
Taiwan leaders also cited and differences in climate between Taiwan and the bamboo forests of southwestern China, where about 1,000 of the endangered animals live in the wild.
"We've looked at the reasons for rejection and tried to over them," he said. "I don't think politics would be a reason they would give on paper."
Wolong officials have told the zoo informally that they are still willing to send the pandas to Taiwan, Yuan said.
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