Japan-born pandas to return to breeding center in China

Three pandas born at a zoo in western Japan will be returned to China to breed, the zoo said Friday.

Officials at the Adventure World zoo amusement park in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, said that twin pandas aged six, and a 4-year-old sibling, will be returned to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

The zoo officials said that the pandas will leave for Chengdu on June 5 as they have reached maturity.

The zoo has been serving as a branch of the breeding facility, based in Sichuan Province, and the success rate of pandas returning to China and breeding has been high, said the zoo's officials.

The zoo's director, Koji Imazu, said he would miss the three pandas, but has high hopes for them to go on and breed.