Thailand to ask for extension of Panda cub's stay
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Thai authorities will discuss with the Chinese delegation in January on the extension of a panda cub's stay in Thailand for two more years.
Zoological Park Organization chief Sophon Damnui said on Thursday that his agency and the Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti had been working to extend the contract signed with China to keep Lin Ping, a panda cub delivered in May, 2009 at Chiang Mai Zoo, staying there for another two years.
China would send representatives to inspect the living conditions of the panda family, Lin Ping and its parents Lin Hui and Chuang Chuang, in Thailand, said Sophon.
The delegation is scheduled to visit Chiang Mai Zoo between Jan 8 and 14, and Thai authorities will discuss the proposed extension of the cub's stay during the Chinese representatives'visit, he said.
There are only a few months left before Thailand under the existing contract has to send the cub to China. Its parents, Lin Hui and Xuang Xuang, will remain in Thailand under a 10-year lease contract between Thailand and China since 2003.
Minister Suwit had visited Beijing twice for talks on extending the cub's stay with China's deputy forestry minister, Sophon said. The issue of setting up a panda research center in the northern province of Chiang Mai was also discussed.
Among the 1.2 million tourists visited the Chiang Mai Zoo this year, 600,000, or half of them, went to see the pandas, and the zoo had a panda-related revenue of about 24 million baht (796, 000 U.S. dollars), accounting for 1/3 of its total annual revenue, according to Sophon.
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