Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi has written a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau requesting for Ottawa’s help in defraying the considerable cost of housing the critters at Calgary’s zoo in two years.
“As a fellow lover of cute cuddly panda cubs and having observed with envy your recent opportunity to hold Jia Panpan and Jia Yueyue in Toronto during their naming ceremony, I trust you can understand my own desire to embrace these pandas with open arms here in Calgary,” Nenshi wrote to Trudeau.
“I am writing today to request a federal government contribution towards investments required in Calgary to host both the panda family and the large number of new visitors, the zoo expects. The decision for Calgary to host the pandas was supported and encouraged by the previous federal government in 2012, but no funds were provided,” the mayor writes.
“The city of Calgary’s generosity of spirit, as most recently evidenced by welcoming Syrian refugees and those displaced from the Fort McMurray fires, leaves little doubt the giant pandas will be made to feel at home,” Trudeau replied.
Two giant pandas, Da Mao and Er Shun, were given to Canadian zoos for 10 years as part of a deal with China in 2012. Since 2013, the panda pair has been at the Toronto Zoo, where the cubs were born and was later famously photographed in the arms of Trudeau.
By Premji
