Despite the scorching heat, giant pandas Suhail and Thuraya have found a comfortable home in Qatar, thanks in part to the care of a Hongkonger who has brought her Ocean Park skills and experience to the Gulf country.
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Cissy Kou Wing-sze became the curator at Qatar Panda House in 2022, where she now looks after the bears also known as Jing Jing and Si Hai, one of whom is a descendant of Ocean Park’s late panda Jia Jia.
“One day I wanted to look up the bloodline of Si Hai, and to my surprise, she is actually the great-granddaughter of Jia Jia, whom I cared for many years ago,” the 48-year-old said.
“I teared up when I learned about it.”
She was speaking to the Post after meeting Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, who led a 50-strong delegation of Hong Kong and mainland Chinese executives to Qatar and Kuwait last week to foster business connections.
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Suhail and Thuraya – now six and five years old, equivalent to 18 and 15 human years respectively – were born in the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan province and gifted by China in October 2022 to commemorate the hosting of the Fifa World Cup.