Prague Zoo receives Taiwanese pangolins following fallout with China

PRAGUE — Prague’s zoo has launched a pair of critically endangered Chinese pangolins to the general public. It is only the the 2nd animal park on the European continent to have the animals.

The arrival of the exceptional acquisition from Taiwan follows a political fallout with China that prevented the anticipated arrival of a pair of giant pandas.

Guo Bao, the male pangolin, and Operate Hou Tang, the feminine, came from the Taipei zoo, the primary breeder of the mammals that are hunted closely for their scales and meat.

It’s estimated pretty much 200,000 were being trafficked in 2019 since of the scales that are applied in traditional medication in Asia and somewhere else.

A several decades in the past, the Czech funds was anticipating to acquire pandas soon after it signed a partnership arrangement with the Chinese money in 2016.

But people hopes arrived to an conclude just three many years later when Prague made the decision to revoke the sister-metropolis agreement with Beijing, an action that angered China.

Prague took the action right after Beijing rejected a ask for to remove a clause from the arrangement that states that Prague supports the a single-China theory, which does not realize Taiwan as an independent nation.

The Czech government recognizes the one particular-China principle, but Prague officials explained they required to aim on cultural cooperation, not on politics.

Relations with China had been even further strained in 2020 when Prague signed a similar sister-town settlement with the Taiwanese cash, Taipei, a offer that also bundled cooperation between the zoos of the two metropolitan areas.

Prague mayor Zdenek Hrib mentioned the cities share democratic values, the regard of essential human rights and cultural freedoms and therefore can inspire each individual other.

Taiwan break up from mainland China amid a civil war in 1949, but Beijing considers the self-dominated island aspect of its territory.

A visit by the speaker of the Czech Parliament’s higher household to Taipei and by Taiwanese authorities ministers to Prague have been condemned by the Chinese govt.

Prague Zoo director Miroslav Bobek mentioned he was concentrating on the animals.

“Sometimes, the arrival of pangolins is commented on that they are listed here instead of pandas,” Bobek said on Thursday. “I do not perceive it quite like that, even though of course it is a achievable interpretation. For us, they are ambassadors of the wild nature, ambassadors of the pangolins that are even now dwelling in the wilderness. The very same way, if we have been to have the large pandas in this article, they would be a image of safety of endangered species.”