There is sad news for all panda lovers in the US. The National Zoo in Washington DC, where three giant pandas have lived for fifty years, will soon return them to China.
The three pandas will return in December this year after the end of a three-year agreement with China’s wildlife agency, Bloomberg reported.
With those in Washington DC gone, only four giant pandas will remain at the Atalanta Zoo, which is expected to shift again next year unless the two countries reach a new deal between themselves, the report said.
Chee Meng Tan, an associate professor at the University of Nottingham in Malaysia who researches panda diplomacy, told the Washington Post: “This may be Beijing’s way of signaling to the West that they may not be very happy with the move. of business. ”
He added: “This could be a way of telling people you’re not treating us very well, so maybe we’ll withdraw our pandas.”
Previously, the San Diego and Memphis pandas had left in 2019 and April 2023, respectively, the report said.
The first example of China’s Panda Diplomacy dates back to 1941, but it wasn’t until President Nixon visited China in 1972 that the US was rewarded. Following his visit, the US was gifted two pandas kept at the National Zoo in Washington DC, the report said.
Over the years, the pandas – named Mei Xiang and Tian Tian – have served an entertainment purpose in addition to political motives. Recently, their three-year-old male cub, Xiao Qi Ji, had also become an attraction for the zoo’s public.
Some experts have also suggested that the decision to return the pandas may not be purely political. They have increased so much that pandas no longer fall under the classification of ‘endangered species’.
So they believe that China is trying to establish a network of national parks and sanctuaries. This may have helped eliminate the need to send the pandas abroad for conservation and breeding.