GALLERY: Leitrim and China unite for panda and peatland protection!

Chinese Panda Guardians, Ms Yang Qin (hair down) of the Sichuan Green Foundation Giant Panda National Park and Ms Zhang Li (hair up) of the Sichuan Green Foundation are welcomed at Leitrim Co. Council ahead of the official twinning ceremony between The Shed Distillery Drumshanbo Nature Reserve & The Sichuan Green Giant Panda National Park Sichuan China, which takes place today (Wednesday 3rd September)

Drumshanbo Shed Distillery Nature Reserve will twin with China’s Giant Panda National Park this week with a special Twinning ceremony taking place to mark the occasion. 

Speaking to the Leitrim Observer, PJ Rigby, owner of the distillery, said that the connection came about after he and his wife Denise travelled to China. 

He told us: "It came about for a number of reasons. Denise and I were in China last November and we met with the Sichuan Green Foundation and built a connection with them to raise funds for them and we are doing that through the sale of a special pack - Panda Conservation Edition of Drumshanbo Gunpowder Irish Gin. We are raising money for the preservation of the panda."

Two Chinese Panda Guardians, Ms Yang Qin of the Giant Panda National Park and Ms Zhang Li of the Sichuan Green have travelled from Sichuan to Drumshanbo to take part in the celebrations.

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PJ continued that everything related to the Giant Panda in China is done through the government "so this was a bit of a breakthrough; it was facilitated by the Chinese Ambassador here and our relationships in China."

He said that while in China, they went to meet the Giant Pandas adding that the funds will go towards the Sherpas, "the guardians that keep an eye on the wild pandas and they don't intervene unless they have to. It is as much a friendship and cultural exchange as it is financial support."

PJ and Denise invited the guardians to come to Ireland and they are currently staying in Leitrim. "On Wednesday, they are at The Shed Gathering Grounds, the town’s former Methodist Church in Drumshanbo, for a ceremony. We had asked them if they would be interested in twinning with our nature reserve which is very small and has just started. We just bought 80 acres of outside Drumshanbo  10,000 tons of carbon will be stored there and we are going to try and turn that into a peaceful place for nature. They said that they would love to that."

The visitors arrived on Sunday and on Monday, they visited the Sligo Oyster Experience, an oyster farm. "Then they visited a regular farm. Today (Tuesday), we're going to Leitrim County Council and they have a ceremony there where they are going to be honoured. Tomorrow, we will be showing them are nature reserve and we'll have a little ceremony. On Thursday, they are going to the Dáil where they will be honoured and they are going back to China at the weekend."

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PJ said that the initiative reflect the values of Drumshanbo Shed Distillery and that they are "very much into nature; not only with the nature reserve but we are members of Origin Green, which is the Bord Bia sustainability programme. This project is quite unusual and something we really wanted to do."