Current:Home > ScamsDC pandas will be returning to China in mid-November, weeks earlier than expected-InfoLens
DC pandas will be returning to China in mid-November, weeks earlier than expected
View Date:2024-12-23 10:41:17
WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Zoo’s three celebrity giant pandas will be heading home a little earlier than expected. Zoo officials told The Associated Press on Thursday that adult bears Mei Xiang and Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji will be returning to China sometime in mid-November.
The zoo’s exchange agreement with the Chinese government, originally brokered by President Richard Nixon 50 years ago, expires Dec. 7. Ongoing negotiations to extend the agreement haven’t produced results, amid speculation from China-watchers that Beijing is gradually pulling its pandas from Western nations due to deteriorating diplomatic relations with the U.S. and other countries.
Panda-philes around the country had circled the December date as the last chance to view the iconic bears. But the zoo, for undisclosed reasons, said the departure would happen about three weeks earlier.
“Discussions with our Chinese partner, the China Wildlife Conservation Association, to develop a future giant panda program will likely start after the current pandas have returned to China,” zoo spokesperson Annalisa Meyer said in an email. “After 51 years of success, we remain committed to giant panda conservation. ... It’s our intention to have giant pandas at the Zoo again and continue our research here and conservation work in China.”
The bears have been a wildly popular attraction and an unofficial symbol of the nation’s capital for decades. Every birthday and anniversary was an occasion for public celebration and the long-shot birth of Xiao Qi Ji in the midst of the pandemic in August 2020 drove millions of viewers to the zoo’s panda-cam.
Zoo officials say they remain hopeful they will come to a new agreement with the Chinese government. The San Diego zoo returned its pandas in 2019, and the last bear at the Memphis, Tennessee, zoo went home earlier this year. The departure of the National Zoo’s bears would mean that the only giant pandas left in America are at the Atlanta Zoo — and that loan agreement expires late next year.
Beijing currently lends out 65 pandas to 19 countries through “cooperative research programs” with a stated mission to better protect the vulnerable species. The pandas return to China when they reach old age, and any cubs born in the United States are sent to China around age 3 or 4.
veryGood! (786)
Related
- South Carolina does not set a date for the next execution after requests for a holiday pause
- California mother's limbs amputated after flesh-eating bacteria infection linked to fish: Report
- California truck drivers ask Newsom to sign bill saving jobs as self-driving big rigs are tested
- Will UAW strike increase car prices? Experts weigh in.
- Steelers shoot for the moon ball, but will offense hold up or wilt in brutal final stretch?
- Second teenager arrested in video recorded hit-run crash of ex-California police chief in Las Vegas
- Arguments to free FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried get rough reception from federal appeals panel
- Wonder where Hollywood's strikes are headed? Movies might offer a clue
- See Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani's Winning NFL Outing With Kids Zuma and Apollo
- Black high school student suspended in Texas because of dreadlocks
Ranking
- Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn is ending her retirement at age 40 to make a skiing comeback
- Which NFL teams can survive 0-2 start to 2023 season? Ranking all nine by playoff viability
- Apple is moving to USB-C power cords. What you can do with the old Lightning cables.
- The Book Report: Washington Post critic Ron Charles (September 17)
- Pentagon secrets leaker Jack Teixeira set to be sentenced, could get up to 17 years in prison
- The 20 Most-Loved Home Entertaining Picks From Amazon With Thousands of 5-Star Reviews
- Quavo steps up advocacy against gun violence after his nephew Takeoff’s shooting death
- MLB playoff picture: Wild-card standings, tiebreakers and scenarios for 2023 postseason
Recommendation
-
Video ‘bares’ all: Insurers say bear that damaged luxury cars was actually a person in a costume
-
3 more defendants seek to move their Georgia election cases to federal court
-
Taurine makes energy drinks more desirable. But is it safe?
-
West Point sued over using race as an admissions factor in the wake of landmark Supreme Court ruling
-
Avril Lavigne’s Ex Mod Sun Is Dating Love Is Blind Star Brittany Wisniewski, Debuts Romance With a Kiss
-
Colombia announces cease-fire with a group that split off from the FARC rebels
-
Japan records a trade deficit in August as exports to China, rest of Asia weaken
-
Arizona county elections leader who promoted voter fraud conspiracies resigns