Bidding Farewell: Panda Bears On US Soil To Head Back To China By The End Of The Year
With U.S. zoos' agreements with China scheduled to expire by the end of next year, there won't be any pandas in the country for the first time since 1972.?
Tian Tian, Mei Xiang, and Xiao QI Ji, three pandas currently housed at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., will all depart for China by the end of the year.?The zoo claims that this is because of a three-year contract it has with the China Wildlife Conservation Association.?
The Smithsonian Institution usually renews contracts when the time comes, but attempts this year have yet to be successful.
The action comes as pandas have already been repatriated to Memphis, Atlanta, and San Diego zoos by year's end, making this the first time in 50 years that the United States won't have any pandas.
When did the first panda arrive in the U.S.?
Some believe pandas in the United States are moving back to China due to tensions between the United States and China.
China presented the United States with its first panda in 1972. President Nixon established formal normal ties with China, after which China gave a gift, a move some have nicknamed "panda diplomacy."?
China has been lending pandas to other nations for decades in an effort to strengthen its relations with those nations.
According to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Britain will also lose two pandas from the Edinburgh Zoo in December if new contracts are not signed.
How many pandas are left in the U.S.?
The final family of pandas to reside in the United States will shortly move to Atlanta, but those four will also be leaving soon.
Ya Lun and Xi Lun's contracts at Zoo Atlanta expire in early 2024, the organization said in a statement.?The parents of Ya Lun and Xi Lun, Lun Lun and Yang Yang, will remain at Zoo Atlanta until the end of 2024 when their loans will expire.
The zoo stated in an April release that "no discussions have yet taken place with partners in China about the status of Zoo Atlanta's giant panda programme beyond the end of the loan in 2024."
Pandas of the San Diego Zoo have reportedly already returned to China, and if not, will most likely do so by the end of the year.?
The zoo said that the Republic of China's credit agreement with it had likewise come to an end.?
A gigantic female panda named Bai Yun and her child, Xiao Liwu, were returned to China.?Ya Ya, a panda from the Memphis Zoo, returned home to China in April of this year.
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