The China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) and Austria's Schonbrunn Zoo on Wednesday signed an agreement to strengthen cooperation on the protection of giant pandas and related research.
A new pair of giant pandas from the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda will be sent to Austria under a 10-year project, according to the agreement.
To ensure the pandas' health in Austria, Chinese experts traveled to the country earlier this year to offer guidance on facilities, feeding, food management and health care.
Giant panda Yang Yang holds her week-old twins at Schonbrunn Zoo in Vienna, Austria, August 15, 2016. /CFP
Established in 1752, Vienna's Schonbrunn Zoo is one of the world's oldest zoos still in operation, with a history of more than 270 years. It has been named Europe's best zoo six times in a row.
The CWCA and Schonbrunn Zoo began cooperating on giant panda protection in 2003. Over the last two decades, their cooperation has achieved fruitful outcomes in panda conversation, breeding, scientific research, technological exchange, personnel training and public education.
A female panda, Yang Yang, and a male panda, Yuan Yuan, currently reside at Schonbrunn Zoo. After these pandas are returned to China this year, the zoo will renovate and upgrade its facilities, and make preparations to provide a safer, more welcoming environment for the new panda pair.