Visitors Make A Beeline For Pandas At Zoo Negara

                 Visitors Make A Beeline For Pandas At Zoo Negara - Many families swarmed Zoo Negara during the Chinese New Year holiday to visit its adorable family of giant pandas while they are still together.

Father panda Xing Xing and mother Liang Liang arrived in Malaysia in May 2014, on loan for 10 years, as a symbol of close Malaysia-China diplomatic ties.

Cub Nuan Nuan was born to them on Aug 18, 2015, and is due to be sent to Chengdu, China, after her second birthday.

The move is in keeping with the Malaysia-China Giant Panda International Conserva­tion Agreement.

A zoo employee, who declined to be named, said the Giant Panda Conservation Centre received more than 4,000 visitors a day during the holiday.

Among the crowd there yesterday was group admin controller Leong Keng Hoe, 51, and his 18-year-old daughter Qi Jia, a temporary teacher.

“We came to see the panda family because my daughter loves animals and enjoys being near them,” he said.

Aside from celebrating the festivities with the family, Leong said that visiting the zoo was a good way to spend the rest of the holiday.

It gave him the chance to spend more time with his daughter, doing what she loved.

Pharmacist Tay Jia Ying, 27, was there with her parents, three siblings, and a cousin for “some family time” and to take wefies with the panda family.

The Kedah lass travelled to Kuala Lumpur with her family on Sunday and made sure to visit the zoo.

“I go back to work on Tuesday so we’re here to see the pandas before we return,” she said.

Teacher Aznira Razak, 35, was also there for the pandas.

“I start work on Wednesday so I decided to come here with my family to see the pandas,” she said, adding that she was with her husband, their two children, her mother and a niece.

Account executive Karen Lee, 36, was there with her four children and husband for quality family time.

“My children are still schooling and all of them enjoy watching animals,” she said, adding that they were eager to see the pandas.

The 1.6ha centre costs the Government RM2.25mil annually to maintain.