Zoo Negara to host giant pandas in May 2014

Visitors to Zoo Negara will be able to feast their eyes on the nation's first pair of giant pandas in May next year.

The pandas, whose arrival mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Malaysia, were initially supposed to be placed at the Wetlands Park in Putrajaya.

However, Natural Resources and Environment minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas said the decision to house the pandas in Zoo Negarainstead of Putrajaya came after a cabinet decision on December 19 last year.

“Before deciding on the place, we have taken into account the feedback from various parties and study the necessities to build a special exhibit for the pandas,” Douglas said at a press conference at Zoo Negara on Wednesday.

Douglas said the exhibit will take up an estimated cost of RM25 million to be built.

“A total of RM15 million will be borne by 1Malaysian Development Berhad while the rest will be seen by the government.

“The exhibit will be 1.6 acres and will be built with temperature below 24 degree Celsius. It will also have the necessities in the animal’s natural habitat,” he said adding that the exhibit is expected to be completed by April next year.

On the animals’ food consumption, Douglas said Zoo Negara will start planting bamboos in a 40 acre land to feed the pandas.

“Currently, bamboos are already planted at the Paya Indah Wetlands in Dengkil,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Zoological Society president Datuk Zaharin Md Arif said Zoo Negara is grateful to the government to be given an opportunity to play host to the pandas for the next 10 years.

“With the arrival of the pandas, we expect the visitor turnover to increase by at least one million per year," said Zaharin.

“We will impose a separate entrance fee for the pandas and with that revenue, we will maintain the panda enclosure.

“As for the preparation of the staff, we will be sending our staff to China for training and will be getting trainers from China to come here," he added.