TAIPEI (TVBS NEWS) － Mainland China sent two giant pandas, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, to Taiwan in 2008 during Jason Yeh's tenure as the director of the Taipei Zoo. The former city official expressed concerns on Monday that Tuan Tuan was recently diagnosed with a brain lesion, meaning that the endangered animal's health is under threat.
Yeh is hoping to assist a group of professionals from the mainland to come to Taiwan and take care of the panda. "The number of individual cases there (in mainland China) is very large. They can share their experience. I think for our zoo, that would be beneficial," said Yeh said.
The central authorities have promised that they will quickly approve the case of mainland experts coming to Taiwan. And the zoo revealed that although the mainland has yet to finalize the list of people coming to Taiwan, they may arrive in early November. They are estimated to stay for 7 days.
The spokesperson of the Taipei Zoo, Eric Tsao, said, "after evaluation, the Forestry Bureau of the Council of Agriculture has approved, and they are in support of the case. So, the chances of (experts from the mainland) coming are very high."
Regarding the deputy minister of the Council of Agriculture, Huang Ching-Cheng's previous statements that the pandas are only in Taiwan for display as they belong to mainland China, and can be taken back if necessary, his comments have been faced with much backlash.
The Forestry Bureau of the Council of Agriculture has since tried to clarify that it was a slip of the tongue by Deputy Minister Huang, but the comments have still angered many of the Taiwanese, who have watched the pandas grow up, and become a part of the Taipei Zoo.