MOSCOW, November 23. /TASS/. The Moscow Zoo is negotiating to keep panda Katyusha, the Zoo’s director Svetlana Akulova said in an interview with TASS, adding that there have been no such precedents in the world so far as these animals are usually given to China at the age of four.

"As for its future, of course, we dream of it staying with us. But according to the agreement we have between Russia and China, we have to hand it over within four years. Do we want it to stay? Yes, we do. Is that possible? I don't know. We will try, but I don’t know how successful we will be. There hasn’t been such a precedent yet, and all the cubs left for China at the age of four or before they were four," she said.

These animals are then distributed through a conservation program to a zoo or breeding center in China for reproduction and procreation, Akulova added. She emphasized that Katyusha is a highly valuable breeding specimen as her mother Ding Ding raised her and taught her everything herself, without human intervention. Akulova also noted the young panda's intellectual abilities.