Master Xuang Xuang Panda and Miss Lin Hui Panda arrived in Thailand, from Chengdu, China, on 12 October and took up residence at Chiang Mai Zoo.

To be entrusted with the care of these precious, endangered animals is a tremendous accolade, and challenge, for the staff and veterinarians of our own local zoo. At a budgeted 40 million baht, the Panda Palace is ready to receive the important, long-term guests and we are positive the pandas will just love their brand new accommodation.

The main Panda Palace residence is 520 sq.metres in area, is fully air-conditioned and has glass walls for excellent visitor viewing. There will also be six video cameras installed within the residence so that our panda friends may be monitored and visited by Internet buddies who may care to call on them (www.pandathailand.org). A show arena, research centre, souvenir shop and veterinarian clinic are all included in the new facilities. So this is an exciting time for Chiang Mai Zoo some of the specialist staff and veterinarians have already under gone training and study at the Panda Research and Conservation Centre at Wo Long in Chengdu, China.