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Copenhagen Zoo starts work on new panda enclosure

Ritzau/The Local
Ritzau/The Local - [email protected]
Copenhagen Zoo starts work on new panda enclosure
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and Chinese ambassador to Denmark Deng Ying break ground at the new enclosure. Photo: Finn Frandsen/Polfoto/Ritzau

Denmark’s Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen on Thursday broke ground on the new panda enclosure to be built at Copenhagen Zoo two accommodate the two new arrivals from China next year.

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The pandas are to be loaned from China to Denmark as a mark of the good relationship between the two countries.

“We are warmed by the thought that we are today beginning the groundwork for a new panda paradise.

“This is only possible because so many people have worked so hard for such a long time,” Rasmussen said prior to work beginning on Thursday.

High-profile architect Bjarke Ingels designed the enclosure, which will cost up to 150 million kroner (20 million euros) and will be formed in the shaped of the yin and yang symbol.

The building will be placed at the site of Copenhagen Zoo’s former elephant house.

Ingels said that he was surprised at how well pandas are suited to Denmark’s climate.

“Where the pandas come from in China has more or less the same climate as [Copenhagen neighbourhood] Frederiksberg,” Ingels said.

A number of foundations and institutions have supported the project to bring the two pandas, Mao Sun and He Xing, from Chengdu Panda Base in China to the Copenhagen zoo.

The loan agreement is valid for ten years with the option of extension.

“I hope we can keep the pandas for the duration of their lives,” Rasmussen said.

READ ALSO: Denmark makes deal to export millions of sausages to China

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