The move comes as the result of mounting debts linked to the pandemic and the Ukraine conflict, Finnish state broadcaster Yle has reported 

A Finnish zoo is preparing to return two giant pandas to China because it can no longer afford their upkeep, state broadcster Yle has reported.

The pandas, named Lumi and Pyry, were brought to Finland’s second-largest privately owned zoo in January 2018, nine months after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the Nordic country and signed a joint agreement on protecting the animals.

However, Ahtari Zoo has faced financial difficulties in recent years and management announced on Monday that they are planning to send the pandas back to China ahead of schedule later this year.

The zoo cited a number of reasons for the decision, including mounting debts accumulated as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, a lack of tourists, soaring inflation, and rising interest rates amid the Ukraine conflict, the outlet said.

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Under a 15-year lease for the animals, the zoo pays an annual fee to China of around €1 million ($1.1 million), which is earmarked for species protection. The zoo is also responsible for costs relating to the upkeep of the pandas.

Last year, the cash-strapped zoo asked the Finnish government for a €5 million ($5.5 million) grant, but the application was declined.

The iconic giant panda is considered vulnerable to extinction. For decades, Beijing has gifted the animals to countries as a tool of diplomacy and wildlife conservation. Earlier this year, China resumed its ‘panda diplomacy’ with the US in the first such move in more than two decades.

Chinese leader Mao Zedong first sent two pandas to then-US President Richard Nixon in 1972, following the American leader’s historic visit to the country, which laid the ground for mutual political ties. From 1984, China switched from gifting pandas to leasing them.