KUALA LUMPUR: The two VIPs (very important pandas) received rock star treatment with fans cheering loudly as the convoy bringing the two reached Zoo Negara.
“Fu Wa! Feng Yi! Fu Wa! Feng Yi,” chanted the schoolchildren who were on a special school trip to lend their support at the arrival of the first two pandas in Malaysia.
“I like Feng Yi because I think she’s cuter,” said one schoolgirl, while another said that she liked both pandas equally.
Junaidi Omar of Zoo Negara’s education department said everyone was overjoyed about the arrival of the pandas.
“We have everything ready, even their favourite bamboo which is the madu, pagar and betong bamboo.
“They will be in quarantine for one month and will be confined separately. If not, they’ll fight,” said Junaidi.
Security personnel standing guard at the panda centre have confirmed that the zoo keepers and staff have successfully moved the two pandas into the complex.
The truck driver transporting one of the pandas, who only wanted to be known as Ibrahim, said the journey to Zoo Negara was long but smooth.
“My truck was quite heavy from the weight of the panda, so I had to drive slower.
“I saw the pandas, they were very cute,” said Ibrahim.
The opening ceremony of Zoo Negara’s Giant Panda Conservation and Exhibition Centre is scheduled in June.
Families who visited Zoo Negara said they would definitely make future visits to see the pandas.
“My favourite animal is the panda because I like Kung Fu Panda. I want to meet a real panda. Kung Fu Panda is a cartoon, it is not real,” said five-year-old Rakshansai Shivakumar.
His father K. Shivakumar, 36, said the family was visiting from Sydney and would try make another trip to the zoo to make Rakshansai’s wish come true.
