AUGUST 9, 2024:
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The two giant pandas sent from China to the United States earlier this year are making their public debut at the San Diego Zoo. California Governor Gavin Newsom and local officials have rolled out the red carpet Thursday (Aug. 8, 2024) for Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, the two young bears that have been acclimating to their new “Panda Ridge” habitat since arriving at the Zoo in June. They are the first pandas that have been sent from China in two decades since the country reignited its panda diplomacy efforts after a brief hiatus.
JUNE 27, 2024:
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A pair of giant pandas are on their way from China to the U.S., where they will be cared for at the San Diego Zoo as part of an ongoing conservation partnership between the two nations, officials said Wednesday (June 26, 2024).
Officials with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance were on hand in China for a farewell ceremony commemorating the departure of the giant pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao.
The celebration included cultural performances, video salutations from Chinese and American students and a gift exchange among conservation partners, the zoo said in a statement. After the ceremony, the giant pandas began their trip to Southern California.
“This farewell celebrates their journey and underscores a collaboration between the United States and China on vital conservation efforts,” Paul Baribault, the wildlife alliance president, said in a statement. “Our long-standing partnership with China Wildlife Conservation Association has been instrumental in advancing giant panda conservation, and we look forward to continuing our work together to ensure the survival and thriving of this iconic species.”
It could be several weeks before the giant pandas will be viewable to the public in San Diego, officials said.
Yun Chuan, a mild-mannered male who’s nearly 5 years old, has connections to California, the wildlife alliance said previously. His mother, Zhen Zhen, was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007 to parents Bai Yun and Gao Gao.
Xin Bao is a nearly 4-year-old female described as “a gentle and witty introvert with a sweet round face and big ears.”
The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has a nearly 30-year partnership with leading conservation institutions in China focused on protecting and recovering giant pandas and the bamboo forests they depend on.
MAY 29, 2024:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two giant pandas are coming to Washington’s National Zoo from China by the end of the year.
The zoo made the announcement Wednesday (May 29, 2024), about half a year after it sent its three pandas back to China.
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute said the pair of pandas are Bao Li (pronounced BOW’-lee) and Qing Bao (ching-BOW’). Giant pandas are icons in Washington, D.C., and beloved around the nation and the world. For more than five decades, the institute has created and maintained one of the world’s foremost giant panda conservation programs, helping move the panda from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the global list of species at risk of extinction.
“We’re thrilled to announce the next chapter of our breeding and conservation partnership begins by welcoming two new bears, including a descendent of our beloved panda family, to Washington, D.C.,” said Brandie Smith, the institute’s John and Adrienne Mars director. “This historic moment is proof positive our collaboration with Chinese colleagues has made an irrefutable impact. Through this partnership, we have grown the panda population, advanced our shared understanding of how to care for this beloved bear and learned what’s needed to protect wild pandas and preserve native habitat.”
In the video announcement released today on the institute’s social media channels, first lady Dr. Jill Biden joined Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III and Smith to reveal pandas are coming back to the nation’s capital. This news comes just six months after giant pandas Tian Tian, Mei Xiang and their cub, Xiao Qi Ji, went to China last November, prompting a nationwide outpouring of farewell from millions of panda fans of all ages.
MAY 17, 2024:
ATLANTA (AP) — The last U.S. zoo with pandas in its care expects to say goodbye to the four giant bears this fall.
Zoo Atlanta is making preparations to return panda parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang to China along with their American-born twins Ya Lun and Xi Lun, zoo officials said Friday (May 17, 2024). There is no specific date for the transfer yet, they said, but it will likely happen between October and December.
The four Atlanta pandas have been the last in the United States since the National Zoo in Washington returned three pandas to China last November. Other American zoos have sent pandas back to China as loan agreements lapsed amid heightened diplomatic tensions between the two nations.
Atlanta received Lun Lun and Yang Yang from China in 1999 as part of a 25-year loan agreement that will soon expire.
Ya Lun and Xi Lun, born in 2016, are the youngest of seven pandas born at Zoo Atlanta since their parents arrived. Their siblings are already in the care of China’s Chengdu Research Center of Giant Panda Breeding.
It is possible that America will welcome a new panda pair before the Atlanta bears depart. The San Diego Zoo said last month that staff members recently traveled to China to meet pandas Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, which could arrive in California as soon as this summer.
Zoo Atlanta officials said in a news release they should be able to share “significant advance notice” before their pandas leave. As to whether Atlanta might see host any future pandas, “no discussions have yet taken place with partners in China,” zoo officials said.
APRIL 29, 2024:
SAN DIEGO (AP) — A pair of giant pandas will soon make the journey from China to the U.S., where they will be cared for at the San Diego Zoo as part of an ongoing conservation partnership between the two nations, officials said Monday (April 29, 2024).
The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said its caretakers recently visited China to meet the giant pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, ahead of their planned trip to Southern California. An exact date for the handoff hasn’t been set.
Yun Chuan, a mild-mannered male who’s nearly 5 years old, has “deep connections” to California, the wildlife alliance said. His mother, Zhen Zhen, was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007 to parents Bai Yun and Gao Gao.
Xin Bao is a nearly 4-year-old female described as “a gentle and witty introvert with a sweet round face and big ears.”
“Our conservation partners in China shared photographs and personality traits of Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, but meeting them in person was so special,” said Dr. Megan Owen, the alliance’s vice president of conservation science. “It’s inspiring as people from around the world come together to conserve, protect, and care for these special bears, and we can’t wait to welcome them to San Diego.”
The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has a nearly 30-year partnership with leading conservation institutions in China focused on protecting and recovering giant pandas and the bamboo forests they depend on.
FEBRUARY 22, 2024:
SAN DIEGO (AP) — China is planning to send a new pair of giant pandas to the San Diego Zoo after a few years in which nearly all the iconic bears in the U.S. were sent home. Megan Owen of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says the zoo has been working with China and expects to get a pair by summer’s end (2024) if the permits are approved. The black-and-white bears have long been a symbol of friendship between U.S. and China, but only four remained in the U.S. as relations began to cool between the two nations. In November 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping raised hopes that California might get more pandas.
NOVEMBER 16, 2023:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping is signaling that China will send new pandas to the United States. Xi calls pandas “envoys of friendship” between the Chinese and American people. During a speech before business leaders Wednesday (Nov. 15, 2023), Xi said China is ready to continue its cooperation with the U.S. on panda conservation. The comment came at the end of a day on which Xi and President Joe Biden held their first face-to-face meeting in a year and pledged to try to reduce tensions. Xi did not share details on when or where pandas might be provided. There are only four pandas left in the United States, in the Atlanta Zoo.
NOVEMBER 9, 2023:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two giant pandas and their cub are headed from the National Zoo in Washington to China. Three large white crates containing the pandas were loaded by forklifts onto waiting trucks — along with several bushels of bamboo for road snacks. From there, the bears traveled early Wednesday (Nov. 8, 2023) to Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia, where they were loaded onto a specially outfitted Boeing 777F dubbed the FedEx Panda Express. The 19-hour flight to Chengdu, China will include a refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska. As the bears return to China at the end of the National Zoo’s exchange agreement, diplomatic tensions between Beijing and multiple Western governments could complicate efforts to bring more giant pandas to American zoos.
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