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Hau hopes to secure rare animal deal in Shanghai

"From the animal conservation perspective, it's a good thing to exchange various animal species between zoos." — Jason Yeh, Taipei Zoo director

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) plans to take advantage of his visit to Shanghai next week to seek giant pandas and other rare animals, including golden monkeys, to be displayed at Taipei Zoo.

The Taipei City Government has been hoping to receive the pandas since the administration of former mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), when China offered two of the animals to Taiwan as a sign of goodwill during former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan’s (連戰) China trip in 2005.

China also presented two golden monkeys — an endangered species from Yunnan Province — to People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) as a gift during his trip to China in 2005, but political issues have also kept the monkeys from coming to Taiwan.

Hau, who will visit Shanghai from June 23 to June 27 to sign a contract and finalize the city’s participation in the 2010 World Expo, will further seek rare animal exchanges with China, Taipei Zoo director Jason Yeh (葉傑生) said yesterday.

Hau will visit the Shanghai Zoo on June 25 to talk with Chinese officials about sending the pandas and golden monkeys to Taipei.

“From the animal conservation perspective, it’s a good thing to exchange various animal species between zoos,” Yeh said yesterday at Taipei City Hall.

“We are positive about exchanging animals with China at this time, with the harmonious cross-strait atmosphere,” he said.

Yeh said that the three-story panda exhibition hall in the zoo was complete, and the zoo was also prepared for taking care of the golden monkeys.

The zoo has spent NT$300 million (US$9.9 million) on building the hall.

It has also sent 17 zookeepers to the panda-breeding base in Sichuan, China, the San Diego Zoo in California and Ueno Zoo in Tokyo to learn how to raise and breed giant pandas.

The hall includes a panda nursery on the first floor, two indoor rooms and one outdoor activity room. The zoo has also planted 6 hectares of bamboo to feed the animals.

In return, Yeh said the zoo planned to send orangutans to China.


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