Zoo in Finland returning giant pandas to China as they are too expensive to keep

Female panda Jin Bao Bao, named Lumi in Finnish, plays in the snow on the opening day of the Snowpanda Resort in Ahtari Zoo in Ahtari, Finland, in 2018 (Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva via AP)

A zoo in Finland has agreed with Chinese authorities to return two loaned giant pandas to China more than eight years ahead of schedule because they have become too expensive for the facility to maintain amid declining visitors.

The private Ahtari Zoo in central Finland, some 330 kilometres (205 miles) north of Helsinki, said on its Facebook page that the female panda Lumi, Finnish for “snow”, and the male panda Pyry, meaning “snowfall”, will return “prematurely” to China later this year.