Soon, Atlanta will be the only place to see pandas in the entire US
ATLANTA - By the end of the year, only four giant pandas will remain in the entire United States: the two adults and two cubs at Zoo Atlanta.
Even their days in Atlanta are numbered, with the Chinese government ready to take them back.
Every giant panda in the US is on loan from the Chinese government. At every zoo in the country - except Atlanta’s - that loan will expire in December.
The two babies, Ya Lun and Xi Lun, and the two adults, Lun Lun and Yang Yang, at Zoo Atlanta are expected to remain but head back sometime in 2024.
"They were so cute. I would really miss them," one zoo-goer told FOX 5. "They were so precious."
Panda Politics
China first began loaning giant pandas to the U.S. in 1972 to commemorate President Nixon's historic visit to the Communist nation. Amid strained tensions between the U.S., China President Xi Jinping, foreign policy researchers said it’s a sign of the times.
"You see it with the pandas, with his attacks on the dollar, even with his nuclear weapons," said Rebecca Grant with IRIS Independent Research. "Frankly, the Communist Party of China just doesn't need to do panda diplomacy anymore."
"Their native habitat is in China, so I can also see that, but it also seems pretty extreme," one Zoo Atlanta visitor said.
Zoo Atlanta said they were expecting to send the babies back, but with no new agreement, Lun Lun and Yang Yang have to go too.
"The terms of Zoo Atlanta’s giant panda loan with China have always included the stipulation that per the terms of the loan agreement, all offspring of Lun Lun and Yang Yang travel to China when they are of age," said Rachel Davis, a spokesperson for Zoo Atlanta in a written statement. "All five of Ya Lun’s and Xi Lun’s older siblings now live in China, and they are also expected to travel to China in 2024."
At the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., the panda exhibit curator said the pandas’ presence has done wonders in preservation and conservation.
"What a conservation success story that we’ve had with giant pandas," said Michael Brown-Palsgrove. "They’ve upgraded them from endangered to vulnerable."
How much longer will the pandas be in Atlanta?
Zoo Atlanta said it plans to coordinate with China on the pandas’ travel arrangements, however, they don’t have any specifics on when exactly in 2024 they’ll depart.
"No discussions have yet taken place with our partners in China as to the status of Zoo Atlanta’s giant panda program beyond the end of the loan in 2024," Davis wrote. "However, Zoo Atlanta is committed to the long-term stewardship of giant pandas and to the continuation of its valued partnership with the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens."