The last of the giant panda bears in the US are set to return to China by the end of next year, but some zoos are banking on "panda diplomacy" and expecting the bears will eventually return.
The last of the giant panda bears in the US are set to return to China by the end of next year, but some zoos are banking on "panda Panda bears at US zoos have been in the country on loan from the Chinese government,
which has gifted or loaned out panda bears as part of its international relations. But the leases on the panda bears are expiring, and have yet to be renewed." and expecting the bears will eventually return.
The pandas at the San Diego Zoo left for China in 2019, while the Memphis Zoo pandas went back in April. Washington DC's National Zoo is expected to send its three panda bears to China on November 15, via FedEx.
That means the only pandas left in the US will be at the Atlanta Zoo — at least until their lease expires at the end of next year, or until a new deal is made.
That means the only pandas left in the US will be at the Atlanta Zoo — at least until their lease expires at the end of next year, or until a new deal is made.
"This is perhaps Beijing's way of signaling to the West that they may not be very happy with how things are going," Chee Meng Tan, an associate professor at the University of Nottingham in Malaysia and expert in "panda diplomacy," told The Washington Post.