Co-operation negotiations have been launched in the zoo, which is struggling with financial problems.
Ähtäri the zoo’s snow pandas Lumia and Pyry are threatened with return to China as early as the turn of the year if the park does not receive financial support.
CEO of the zoo Arja Väliaho tells BTI that the situation is under investigation.
“This option exists if we do not balance our finances,” Väliaho tells STT by e-mail.
According to Väliaho, Ähtäri Zoo is receiving only 200,000 euros from the 1.5 million grant amount promised by the state.
“As this setback adds to the deep dent brought by the corona and the temporary closing of the doors of the entire park, it is clear that it is responsible to try to solve this difficult equation in one way or another,” Väliaho says.
As part of the austerity measures in the zoo, co-operation negotiations have been launched.
Zoo has requested financial support from member companies of the Finland-China Trade Association in order to continue the implementation of the panda protection program in Finland.
If the zoo does not receive financial support, the option is to return the pandas.
Lumi and Pyry arrived in Finland in 2018. The panda duo is in Ähtäri with a 15-year lease.
Pandojen was the first to report on a possible return MTV news. According to an email seen by MTV News, the financial situation of the zoo is under serious threat to ensure the quality of the pandas.
A message sent by Ähtäri Zoo says that without support measures, it seems inevitable that pandas will have to be returned to China “very soon, after the turn of the year”.
The zoo has been in financial difficulties for a long time. The return of the pandas was last in the headlines in the summer of 2020.
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