Foreign and Military Affairs

Aussie minister releases pandas into exhibit

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-12 14:02

Aussie minister releases pandas into exhibit

Funi, a three-year-old female giant panda, looks at fruits in its new enclosure at Adelaide Zoo in the South Australia state November 28, 2009.?[Agencies]

CANBERRA: Australian Climate Change Minister Penny Wong on Tuesday officially released giant pandas Wang Wang and Funi outside their glass enclosures at Adelaide Zoo.

Wong was on hand at Adelaide Zoo armed with a two-way radio which she gave the order to release the pandas.

She said that while the pandas were good for bilateral relations with China, the focus should be on the environment not politics.

"This isn't a political issue, this is about the environment, about the community, about learning more about these fantastic creatures," Wong said.

"It's also learning about the impact human beings have on the environment, that climate change has on the habitat of these animals and any others."

The pandas, which are the only ones in captivity in the Southern Hemisphere, arrived in Adelaide late last year on loan from China for the next decade.

Since their arrival they have been confined to their air-conditioned lodgings, part of the Adelaide Zoo's 8 million Australian dollar (US$7.4 million) giant panda enclosure.

The pandas were not fazed by all the fuss and media fanfare, after needing a little prompting by their keeper to escape the confines of the glass. Although the young pair are in two separate yards, Adelaide Zoo is hoping that the pandas will eventually breed.