China has decided to continue their panda diplomacy with Europe and the United States and has been in talks with 2 zoos, the San Diego Zoo in the U.S. and the Madrid Zoo in Europe. And those of us who have missed the giant pandas in San Diego can rejoice in knowing they’ll be returning.
This agreement would continue a five-decade long tradition of China lending pandas to western zoos and after the Chinese government’s actions, Giant Pandas were officially out of the endangered category as of September 2016.
According to the press release, we could see the pandas as early as the end of summer! One male and one female will be sent over and the female is a descendent from the pandas who lived in the San Diego zoo, Bai Yun and Gao Gao.
The last time pandas lived at the San Diego Zoo was in 2019 until China decided to take back all the pandas it had lent to the U.S. including one in Memphis. As of now, Atlanta is the only place to see giant pandas, though they were supposed to be returned this year.
“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,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said late last year.
According to the embassy’s statement, they’re also negotiating with Washington D.C. and Vienna to bring pandas to one of their zoos as well.
We can’t wait to meet them!