Taiwan flight leaves for mainland to pick up pandas

Source: Xinhua | 12-22-2008 11:43

TAIPEI, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- A Taiwan-based Eva Air flight left here Monday morning for the mainland to pick up two pandas offered to Taiwan as a gesture of goodwill.

A caretaker of the Taipei zoo trains Yuan Yuan, one of the  two pandas donated and will be sent by the Chinese mainland  to Taiwan, at a panda breeding base in Ya'an, southwest  China's Sichuan Province Dec. 21, 2008. A Taiwan-based Eva  Air flight left here Monday morning for the mainland to  pick up two pandas offered to Taiwan as a gesture of goodwill. (Xinhua Photo)

The plane took off from Taipei at 8:30 a.m.. It is expected to arrive at the Shuangliu Airport in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, at 12:10 p.m.

It will return to Taiwan with the panda pair, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, whose names together mean "Reunion," at about 5:00 p.m. Tuesday.

Two staff, a panda keeper and a veterinarian, from the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan will accompany the pandas to Taiwan.

They will bring with them a week's worth of the pandas' favorite food, such as steamed corn buns and fresh bamboo. Other necessities include medicines like motion-sickness pills.