Eight "Olympic Pandas" chosen in an online poll to add cheer to the Games this summer made their debut yesterday at the Beijing Zoo and are expected to attract as many as 100,000 visitors at weekends.
The zoo was crowded with visitors, many already having queued at the panda house gate to buy tickets before it opened.
A worker, who did not give his name, at the panda hall, said the number of visitors had risen by more than 50 percent in the morning. Most people came to see the eight new pandas.
Zhang Jinguo, deputy head of Beijing Zoo, said they would consider controlling visitor numbers if the hall became too crowded.
"Usually we have about 20,000 visitors at the weekend, but this weekend, with these eight animals, I expect a possible number of 80,000 to 100,000. Most probably we will separate visitors into groups so that the hall won't become too crowed."
The eight pandas, which arrived in Beijing from the Wolong China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center on May 24, have adapted to and are enjoying their new lives at their new home, which is a large hall with bamboo, a small pond, grassland and bright paintings. They are not disturbed by the crowds of visitors and photographers outside the glass wall watching and cheering for these adorable treasures.
"I have been waiting for them to come out for about two hours," a little girl on her father's shoulders said, with a panda print balloon in hand, and behind crowds of visitors and photographers who burst into cheers as the eight pandas appeared in the enclosure.
"I like Huanhuan best out of the eight because it looks like Jingjing, the Fuwa Panda," she added, referring to one of the official mascots of the Beijing Olympic Games.
Huanhuan is also said to be the one with a talent for music.
"He likes singing, and often becomes so intoxicated by his own voice that he forgets to eat", Wu Daifu, the panda keeper from Wolong said.
A zoologist from Belgium surnamed Waegemans, said he could not love pandas more.
"My friends all call me Mr Panda as I'm so fond of them. I've been in Beijing for 17 days; and every day I come to the zoo to watch giant pandas.
"I am too excited today to see these eight cute babies together."
A donation ceremony was also held to help rebuild the Wolong center, where five staff at the base were killed, two pandas were injured and six went missing, of which five have been found.
"It's unknown whether the quake will have an adverse effect on the pandas' breeding," Wang Pengyan, vice-director of the base, said.
Wang said the base would not move out of Wolong despite the damage.
"The biggest problem we encountered is that the critical infrastructure was destroyed and it would need some time for rebuilding," he said.
Source: China Daily
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