Panda-mic quarantine: Fu Bao embarks on bamboo binge in new video

Video footage of Korea’s first-born giant panda, Fu Bao, was released by the Chinese panda center as three weeks have passed since the giant panda departed Korea early this month.

Footage of Fu Bao eating her food, posted by the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Panda on Chinese social media platform Weibo on Wednesday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

More video footage of Fu Bao was released by the Chinese panda center three weeks after Korea’s beloved first-born giant panda departed the country.

The China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Panda uploaded a four-minute video titled “Fu Bao's Quarantine Diary 3” on Chinese social media platform Weibo on Wednesday.

In the video, Fu Bao is seen eating bamboo, bamboo shoots, carrots and cornbread non-stop at the Shenshuping giant panda base in Wolong National Nature Reserve, where she is staying for quarantine.

Footage shows the giant panda relaxing outdoors on the grass, enjoying her bamboo treat while lying down indoors. The center stated that Fu Bao, still under quarantine, has started eating outdoors and is in good mental health, exhibiting normal bowel movements.

Previously, the center uploaded two videos under the same title on April 10 and April 17.

Questions have arisen regarding when the public will be able to see Fu Bao and where she will live in the future as she quickly adapts to her new environment.

After her quarantine ends, she will stay at one of the four panda bases — the Shenshuping panda base, the Hetaoping panda base, the Dujiangyan panda base and the Ya’an Bifengxia giant — according to media reports.

A netizen claimed in a video comment that Fu Bao should not be sent to the Dujiangyan panda base due to its old facilities.

Footage of Fu Bao eating a bamboo shoot and carrot, posted by the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Panda on Chinese social media platform Weibo on April 17. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The center responded that “no specific plans have been made on where the giant panda will live after her quarantine” and that it will officially announce such matters in the future.

Fu Bao was the first giant panda to be born in Korea. She was born in 2020 to Le Bao and Ai Bao, pandas that the Chinese government leased to Korea in 2016.

The giant panda garnered major popularity in Korea with nicknames like “Fu Princess” during her life at Everland, an amusement park in Yongin, Gyeonggi.

The giant panda departed for China on April 3, following China's mandate that all giant pandas, regardless of their birthplace, must be returned to the country upon reaching sexual maturity at the age of four.

Fu Bao has twin siblings, Rui Bao and Hui Bao, who were born at Everland in July 2023.

BY KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]