Tag: Pandas

San Diego Zoo Could Be First in U.S. to Get Pandas From China Again

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Giant pandas from China could be arriving in the United States again soon, as Beijing is planning to continue its panda diplomacy with Western countries, according to a statement from the Chinese Embassy in the United States. The China Wildlife Conservation Association reached agreements with the San Diego Zoo in California and the Madrid Zoo in Spain “on a new round of international giant panda conservation cooperation,” according to the statement. The agreement would keep alive a more than five-decade old tradition of China lending pandas to American zoos in…

Britain Says Bye-Bye to Its Only Pandas as They’ll Soon Depart for China

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Britain’s only two pandas will soon be returned to China, officials said, in a send-off that has dispirited fans of the playful, waddling bears and signals what appears to be the end, at least for now, of panda diplomacy. “Bamboo bon voyage,” the Edinburgh Zoo of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland said on its website, noting that there would be “a giant farewell” on Thursday for the bears, whose names are Yang Guang and Tian Tian. The pair of giant pandas will be prepared to return to China in…

Panda Diplomacy Might Not Be Dead Just Yet

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The fur balls might be coming back to Washington and San Diego. Xi Jinping, China’s leader, said in a speech on Wednesday night that his nation’s best diplomats, giant pandas, might soon return to zoos in the United States that have recently sent bears back to their homeland. “We are ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation, and do our best to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen the friendly ties between our two peoples,” he told a gathering of mostly…

As Pandas Leave D.C., Is Panda Diplomacy Over?

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The two adult pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, and their 3-year-old cub, Xiao Qi Ji, are scheduled to be loaded into crates that day and driven in trucks to a FedEx Boeing 777 called the Panda Express. They will then be flown 19 hours from Dulles International Airport to China, where they will join about 150 other pandas in a lush nature preserve in the misty mountains of Sichuan Province. And with that, an era of panda diplomacy will end, at least for now. It began when Patricia Nixon,…

A Panda Is Coming Home, and Her Chinese Fans Say It’s About Time

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After two decades on loan to the Memphis Zoo, Ya Ya, a female giant panda, is heading home to China. To some animal welfare activists and Chinese people, it’s not a moment too soon. They are alarmed by videos and photos of Ya Ya in which she has mangy fur and looks somewhat thin. Two animal rights groups, In Defense of Animals and Panda Voices, have been campaigning to send her back to China “before her health worsens.” They have also blamed the zoo for the death of Ya Ya’s…