芬兰一座私人动物园——Ähtäri野生动物园，在其Facebook页面上宣布，位于北极圈以南约205英里的赫尔辛基东南部，决定早于计划将两只从中国借来的大熊猫——以“雪”命名的雌性熊猫Lumi和名为“雪崩”的雄性熊猫Pyry提前归还至中国。
这两只大熊猫是作为庆祝芬兰100周年独立日的礼物由中国提供给这个北欧国家的。原计划它们在2033年之前借住，但现在由于游客数量减少、通胀上升以及利率增加等诸多挑战后，动物园决定提前将它们送回。
自从这笔价值8百万欧元（约9百万美元）用于修建特别的大熊猫住宅设施项目完成之后，这座以北欧动物如熊、猞猁和郊狼等为特色的私人动物园便一直在努力吸引更多游客。然而，由于新冠疫情的爆发与俄乌冲突，以及经济压力增大，这一计划变得更加艰难。
根据赫尔辛基与中国之间的15年互换协议，该交易在2017年习近平主席访问芬兰期间完成，当时他还与芬兰总统绍利·尼尼斯托进行了会谈。大熊猫于次年的1月到达芬兰。
随着游客数量的下降和经济环境急剧变化，这座较小的芬兰动物园承受着巨大压力。Lumi和Pyry的养护以及向中国支付保护费用每年消耗着约150万欧元的成本，而大熊猫的主要食物——竹子则从荷兰进口。
北京方面曾努力帮助Ähtäri Zoo克服财务困难，包括鼓励在芬兰运营的中国企业捐款支持动物园，并协助其债务安排。然而，游客数量的持续减少和经济环境的变化使得问题变得难以解决。
这两只大熊猫将在10月底开始为期一个月的隔离期后被送回中国。芬兰是560万人口的小国，早在1950年就与作为第一个与中国建立外交关系的西方国家之一。一直以来，中国政府都通过赠送大熊猫以示友好及增进两国政治关系的好意，芬兰是第一个接受这类礼物的北欧国家。
新闻来源：www.abcnews.go.com
原文地址：A zoo in Finland with financial woes is returning giant pandas to China
新闻日期：2024-09-25
原文摘要：
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 Ähtäri Zoo in central Finland some 330 kilometers (205 miles) north of Helsinki said Wednesday 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. The panda pair was China’s gift to mark the Nordic nation’s 100 years of independence in 2017, and they were supposed to be on loan until 2033. But since then the zoo has experienced a number of challenges, including a decline in visitors due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as well as an increase in inflation and interest rates, the facility said in a statement. The panda deal between Helsinki and Beijing, a 15-year loan agreement, had been finalized in April 2017 when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Finland for talks with then=Finnish President Sauli Niinistö. The pandas arrived to Finland in January 2018. The Ähtäri Zoo, which specializes in typical northern European animals such as bears, lynxes and wolverines, built a special Panda House annex at a cost of some 8 million euros ($9 million) in hopes of luring more tourists to the remote nature reserve. The upkeep of Lumi and Pyry, including a preservation fee to China, cost the zoo some 1.5 million euros annually. The bamboo that giant pandas eat was flown in from the Netherlands. The Chinese Embassy in Helsinki noted to Finnish media that Beijing had tried to help Ähtäri to solve its financial difficulties by, among things, urging Chinese companies operating in Finland to make donations to the zoo and supporting its debt arrangements. However, declining visitor numbers combined with drastic changes in the economic environment proved too high a burden for the smallish Finnish zoo. The panda pair will enter into a month-long quarantine in late October before being shipped back to China. Finland, a country of 5.6 million, was among the first Western nations to establish political ties with China, doing so in 1950. China has presented giant pandas to countries as a sign of goodwill and closer political ties, and Finland was the first Nordic nation to receive them.
