Giant pandas Ru Yi and Ding Ding receive awards in Moscow
he main goal of the awards is draw attention to people who work with animals in captivity.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Gold in "Panda event of the year," silver in "Panda person of the year" and bronze in "Favourite panda outside of China," giant pandas Ru Yi and Ding Ding took the world of panda fans by storm this year, as they received multiple awards from the "Giant Panda Global" website on January 23.
"Giant Panda Global" owner and head editor Jeroen Jacobs told Reuters that around 320,000 people from over 60 countries voted to determine this year’s winners.
The main goal of the awards is draw attention to people who work with animals in captivity, helping rare species such as pandas to survive, Jacobs said.
The awards, however, have to be earned. Moscow Zoo Director Svetlana Akulova said the giant pandas in Moscow Zoo do not have it easy as they have a busy schedule every day to keep them in good physical and mental condition and therefore worthy of such prestigious international recognition.
Ding Ding, and Ru Yi were given to Moscow Zoo by Chinese President Xi Jinping at a ceremony with Russian President Vladimir Putin in April 2019.
Beijing has loaned the pandas to Moscow for 15 years as part of a joint research project.
