Dutch tycoon fulfills panda dream

China agrees to loan pair of the endangered animals after passionate pleas from zoo

When Dutch tycoon Marcel Boekhoorn decided 16 years ago to acquire the Ouwehands Zoo, about 90 km from Amsterdam, he had two dreams.

One was to increase the visitor flow to the zoo, which has more than 3,000 animals, in the picturesque town of Rhenen. The other was to acquire two giant pandas.

After investing about 40 million euros ($44.6 million) in the zoo, which was converted from a chicken farm in 1932, visitor numbers have risen by five times to almost 1 million a year.

"It's taken quite a long time to fulfill his second dream, but we're excited that it's finally coming true," says Robin de Lange, the zoo's director.

China agreed in October to loan two pandas to the zoo after a meeting in Beijing between President Xi Jinping and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.

According to the deal, two pandas -male Xing Ya and female Wu Wen, both around 3 years old - will stay at the zoo for 15 years.

De Lange joined the zoo in 2003. Inside his office are photos of the pandas and their enclosure house, which is under construction. The animals are scheduled to arrive in January, although an exact date has not been set.

Boekhoorn, 56, who also has interests in telecommunications, the media and football, says De Lange is passionate about bringing pandas to the Netherlands and even persuaded Willem Kok, the former Dutch prime minister, to write a letter to the Chinese leadership.

Over the years, De Lange and Boekhoorn have been in close contact with Chinese officials, although there was no progress until August last year. Chinese embassy officials opened talks on ways to underline the significance of the king's visit to Beijing, which came after Xi's state visit to the Netherlands in March 2014.

The Netherlands was among the first European Union nations Xi visited after becoming president in early 2013.

To prepare the agreement, De Lange says his zoo set up a panda taskforce. He says the agreement between Ouwehands Zoo and the Chinese Wildlife Conservation Association was signed on Oct 26, but it was only two days before that he was told the president and the king would witness the signing ceremony.

In terms of visitor numbers, Ouwehands is not the most popular zoo in the Netherlands, yet it was the first to ask to receive a panda to boost friendship between the two countries. Boekhoorn says the loan agreement is proof that long-term commitments can succeed.

The agreement means all Western European countries except Luxembourg will have pandas. The last nation to receive a panda before the Netherlands was Belgium, in 2014.

Wu Ken, the Chinese ambassador to the Netherlands, says he attaches great importance to the panda agreement, referring to them as "another two ambassadors".

De Lange's taskforce has designed a rough timetable for the pandas, he says, explaining that after arriving in January, they will undergo a month of quarantine and then will be introduced to the public.

However, keeping a panda is not cheap. First, the zoo must pay $1 million annually to the Chinese Wildlife Conservation Association, standard for all countries that have entered into such agreements in recent years, to help protect the endangered animal. Fewer than 2,000 pandas still exist in the wild in China.

The zoo has also spent 7 million euros to construct two enclosures for the pandas.

"Considering the salaries for panda handlers and the cost of buying bamboo, we'll pay at least 1.5 million euros a year, not to mention the investment for the panda house," De Lange says.

He says the zoo will initially buy bamboo from a farm in the Netherlands and perhaps two or three years later will plant its own crop. On average, a panda can eats 50 kilograms of bamboo a day.

The taskforce has learned a lot about pandas, including animal management, nutrition and daily care, and two staff members have undergone training in China to give Xing Ya and Wu Wen the best possible care in their new home.

De Lange concedes that it will be a challenge to get a return on such a large investment, but he says profit is not the priority. "This is an inspiring project, and profit is not an issue," he adds.

Just as the pandas loaned to the Belgium zoo went on to spur a rapid increase in visitor numbers, De Lange says he is confident more people will come to Ouwehands, including from as far away as Germany.

"How the things will go after five years, I don't know," he says, but he adds that Boekhoorn is ready to take the risk in order to forge closer ties between China and the Netherlands and protect an endangered species.

The panda enclosure is being built a stone's throw from the main entrance, and "we must present it in a very traditional Chinese way", says De Lange. To achieve this, the team has visited panda houses across Europe and studied Chinese architecture to make the Dutch enclosure "attractive, unique and Chinese".

Designed by architects from China and the Netherlands, the enclosure, which covers 3 hectares, is already taking shape, with similarities to the main building of Beijing's Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City. "We've kept some space for a baby panda," De Lange adds with a smile.

He says the Chinese partner in the project is responsible for the roof, windows, doors and other details to make the appearance of the pandas' home traditionally Chinese.

In the two-story enclosure, the animals will live on the ground floor, and De Lange has drawn up plans for a restaurant and teahouse on the upper floors.

"For many Dutch people, China seems far away," says De Lange, who has visited China more than 20 times. "We hope pandas, the buildings and the atmosphere here can bring the Far East nation much closer."

fujing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 09/02/2016 page21)