Bye-bye bears: Calgary Zoo returning pandas to China due to bamboo barriers

May 12, 2020 | 9:56 AM

CALGARY — The Calgary Zoo will be returning two giant pandas on loan from China because the COVID-19 pandemic has caused problems with getting enough bamboo to feed them.

Er Shun and Da Mao arrived in Calgary in 2018 after spending five years at the Toronto Zoo and were scheduled to remain in the Alberta city until 2023.

The zoo’s president, Clement Lanthier, says the zoo spent months trying to overcome barriers in transporting fresh bamboo to the facility and has decided it’s best for the animals to be in China, where their main food source is abundant.

He says it was a difficult decision to make, but the health and well-being of the pandas come first.