What eats 30kg of plants, plus fibre biscuits and other vegetables, a day?

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu will lead a delegation including his wife Janet Lee Lam Lai-sim, Pong, tourism minister Kevin Yeung Yun-hung and Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation officials to the Dujiangyan Base of the China Conservation and Research Centre in Sichuan on Sunday to discuss the arrangements for the new pandas.

The pandas are Beijing’s gifts to Hong Kong to celebrate the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty.

This will be the third pair presented by Beijing to the city, after An An and Jia Jia in 1999, and Ying Ying and Le Le in 2007.

The pandas have been major attractions at Ocean Park over the years, drawing crowds of visitors.

Health complications related to old age led to Jia Jia and An An being put down in 2016 and 2022 respectively. Jia Jia was 38 years old and An An was 35, and each was the oldest giant panda in captivity when it died.

Ying Ying and Le Le are still at Ocean Park and remain a favourite among visitors. They turn 19 next month.

The new additions, which are expected to create a buzz when they arrive, are from Sichuan’s panda reserve, which has 230 of the animals.

Pong said Ocean Park was considering upgrading its panda facilities and adding more features, including new exhibitions and “digital immersive experiences” for children.

The park has two panda enclosures. The Giant Panda Adventure currently houses Ying Ying and Le Le, and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Sichuan Treasures is where An An and Jia Jia were kept.

The new pandas are expected to undergo 30 days of quarantine before leaving Sichuan and another 30 days or more when they arrive in Hong Kong.

Pong said they would need time to adjust to the environment before visitors could start seeing them.

Ying Ying and Le Le were quarantined for 30 days before they were flown to Hong Kong in April 2007, and then needed another two months of quarantine and adaptation before making their official debut on July 1 that year.

Asked whether the park needed more staff to look after the newcomers, Pong said many of its caretakers and vets had been there since 1999 and had “great experience” caring for pandas.

Assistant curator Mandy Tang Hau-yin, who has helped look after pandas for the past eight years, said the staff were anticipating the arrival of the new bears.

She said Ying Ying and Le Le were provided about 30kg (66lbs) of bamboo each day, plus high-fibre biscuits and vegetables.

Twice a week, about 420kg of bamboo arrived from a farm in Guangzhou and staff had to clean and check the supply before feeding it to the bears.

Tang, who also looked after An An and Jia Jia, said it was not hard for caretakers to build a relationship with the fuzzy creatures.

“They are lovely,” she said. “If you just feed them, you will feel a connection, and they will also express their feelings.”