There were emotional scenes at Tokyo’s Ueno zoo, where visitors flocked for the last public viewing of giant pandas Ri Ri and Shin Shin on Saturday, before they are sent back to China.

Thousands of thankful, sobbing fans flocked to a Tokyo zoo Saturday to bid an emotional farewell to a pair of beloved pandas before their imminent return to China.

Two pandas are heading back to China eight years early amid lower-than-hoped-for visitor numbers at a zoo in rural Finland, and after the pair didn’t produce a cub.

Due to the excessive costs associated with their care, two giant pandas leased from China and kept at a Finnish zoo were returned.

Shutterstock / Elena Sirotkina A zoo in Finland has agreed to send to loaned pandas back to China after the costs of keeping the critters have become too much. According to the NY Post, declining visitors to the zoo have made the pandas unaffordable.