Wellington-Halton Hills MP Michael Chong welcomed News of the arrival of Chinese panda bears Damao and Ershun at the zoo here on Monday.
Chong, who was instrumental in an agreement with the China to have the bears adopted to Canada for 10 years, was unable to be at the arrival ceremony due to a previous commitment in Ottawa.
But he travelled to China last year with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to ink the deal.
“I think it’s great News,” he said of the pair’s arrival.
“Both are a symbolic gesture of deepening ties between Canada and Asia.”
About four years ago Chong was asked by the Toronto Zoo to represent them in efforts to obtain the giant pandas for display and possible breeding. The bears will spend five years at the Toronto zoo and five years at the Calgary Zoo as part of the agreement.
“It’s a very small window in which to breed,” Chong said of the animal’s breeding routine, which lasts about three days in early spring.
“They’re one of the most endangered species in the world and they’re only in China. Hopefully they’ll produce a cub.”
It will take the pandas a couple of months to acclimatize themselves to their new environment, which features separate enclosures and a common area.
Chong has been part of the Rouge Park Alliance group working to obtain a national park in that area.
The Toronto Zoo is part of that territory, and Chong said in an interview with the Advertiser last year that’s why zoo officials contacted him to work on the panda agreement.
Chong said the animals are a symbol of “peace, friendship and good fortune.”
The bears are expected to attract millions of young people to the zoo and all costs related to their stay will be paid by zoo admissions. That will include their daily diet of bamboo.
“They eat about 30 pounds of bamboo a day,” Chong said of the bears.
