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Beijing to establish ecological sanctuary for giant pandas in 2025

Plans also call for establishing a cultural exchange center at the site for intensifying cooperation in wildlife protection

BEIJING, February 25. /TASS/. China’s capital city is set to open an ecological reserve dedicated to the conservation of a species of giant pandas, the Xinhua news agency reported.

According to Xinhua, an area covering 133 hectares will be set aside for the reserve, which will be situated in the Fangshan District, southwest of Beijing, and will be home to several dozen pandas.

The reserve will also host red pandas (binomial name: Ailurus fulgens) and golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana). Around 50 giant pandas will also live there. Plans also call for establishing a cultural exchange center at the site for intensifying cooperation in wildlife protection.

The panda is an unofficial symbol of China and is governmentally protected. Around 2,000 of the bear species live in the wild, primarily in mountainous areas of Sichuan Province in southwestern China, where large stands of bamboo forests have been preserved.

In Russia, giant pandas live in the Moscow Zoo only. China provided two animals under a special agreement reached in April 2019 during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing. This event marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The ceremony for transferring custody of the bears took place on June 5, 2019, during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow.

In August 2023, a cub was born to Moscow’s panda couple. According to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, this event became "significant for Russia and the entire world ecological community."

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