Two giant pandas are moving to a California zoo in a rare loan from China
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China is sending two giant pandas to the San Diego Zoo – the first time it has granted new panda loans to the United States in two decades.
A spokesperson for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance confirmed to CNN Wednesday that the zoo would be receiving the two pandas, saying there was no official timeline for their arrival, but they are “optimistic we will get pandas in the not-so-distant future.”
The news comes just months after Chinese leader Xi Jinping suggested China could send new pandas to the US, specifically to the San Diego Zoo, as “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples.”
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“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,” Xi said in November.
His comments came shortly after the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC sent its three pandas back to China – marking the end of more than 50 years of Chinese pandas being housed at the zoo. The National Zoo was the first US zoo to showcase pandas, and the end of its program had left Zoo Atlanta as the only other US zoo to feature pandas.
San Diego Zoo returned its last two pandas to China in 2019, after its loan agreement ended.
