Ocean Park will not face many challenges taking care of additional pandas given its expertise, according to Suzanne Gendron, a former executive director of the park’s zoological operations. With Thursday's arrival of two giant pandas given to Hong Kong by the central government, Ocean Park now has six pandas in total, including two newborns. Gendron said she has faith in the ability of the park’s caring team to look after the animals. “I can't think of anyone better to take care of them than Ocean Park’s animal care team. The team has been working with pandas, some of them for 20 years, and they're well experienced. They have a deep respect and love for the animals,” she said. “When the time comes, should Ocean Park need more space, I'm sure they will find an area to give the newborns the space that they need. But right now, I think they've got plenty of space for the animals.” Gendron also welcomed the park’s move to renovate the Sichuan Treasures exhibit, where the late pandas An An and Jia Jia once resided. The park has added climbing frames and plants to the exhibit and also plans to add snow rocks and snow machines, in a bid to recreate the pandas' natural habitat in Sichuan. “The Sichuan Treasures was innovative at the time but when we designed the next panda habitat where Ying Ying and Le Le are currently residing, we knew that we wanted to add more elements to enrich their lives, and Ying Ying and Le Le absolutely adored playing on those rocks and playing in that snow. So being able to add that to the older exhibit, it’s a marvellous addition,” she said. Gendron said the two new arrivals from the mainland, both five, are still too young to breed. “They're still quite playful. They've just started to have their independence a few years before. I think the females still stay with mom for a while. But the males will have been a little bit more independent because they're more of a solitary animal than cooperative group animals,” she said. “I believe they still have a few more years to sexual maturity.”
