“Female Panda Yaya Returns Home to Shanghai amidst Concerns for Living Conditions in US Zoo”

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CHRONICLE OF SHANGHAI. The 23-year-old female panda has just returned home. Some worried about his living conditions in a zoo in the United States.

By Marie Fourier, in Shanghai

LShanghai airport authorities were on the dock with heightened attention this week. The return of an extraordinary personality had been expected for several weeks already. That of Yaya, a female panda, lent by China to the Memphis Zoo in the United States in 2003. The 23-year-old animal landed at 4:26 p.m. Thursday, with her personal delegation of veterinarians and animal experts, some of whom had been dispatched to the United States to familiarize themselves with the beast.

The remains of her male partner, Lele, who died in February of a heart attack aged 25, were also part of the trip.