A giant panda couple on loan to Japan, Ri Ri and his female mate Shin Shin, will be returned to China on Sept 29 for treatment due to health concerns, the Tokyo metropolitan government said.
Ri Ri and Shin Shin, who have been staying at Tokyo's Ueno Zoological Gardens since 2011, are both aged 19 and considered to be reaching old age for pandas.
The pair have been receiving medication for high blood pressure since September 2023, with Ri Ri experiencing occasional vomiting since 2022 and experts unable to identify the cause.
The final day for public viewing will be Sept 28.
Ri Ri and Shin Shin, who were born at a giant panda reserve in southwestern China's Sichuan Province, came to Japan under a 10-year lease agreement, which was later extended.
Their loan expires in February 2026 but Japan and China have agreed it would be better for them to return to their home country for treatment before their health deteriorates.
They are the parents of Xiang Xiang, who was returned to China in 2023, and twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, born in June 2021. The twins will remain at the Ueno zoo, being the only pandas at the zoo.
The Ueno zoo received its first pandas in 1972 from China to commemorate the normalization of bilateral ties.
