Two new bears go away China for US capital

Two large pandas departed China for a zoo in america capital on Monday, a Chinese language conservation crew stated in a commentary.

Bao Li, a male panda, and feminine Qing Bao, each 3 years previous, had been headed to the Smithsonian Nationwide Zoo in Washington beneath a decade-long breeding and analysis settlement.

“China and the US have made orderly preparations… to make sure that the 2 large pandas will arrive on the Washington Nationwide Zoo safely and easily,” the China Flora and fauna Conservation Affiliation (CWCA) stated in a commentary.

Handiest some of the loved black-and-white bears stay in the US after nearly all had been returned to China in recent times beneath pre-arranged contracts—together with all 3 of the Nationwide Zoo’s pandas ultimate November.

The loss of rapid replacements used to be considered through many as an emblem of the heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing.

China has been the usage of so-called “panda international relations” since 1972, when the primary animals had been despatched to Washington as a present, following US president Richard Nixon’s ancient seek advice from to the Communist country.

Chinese language President Xi Jinping stated after assembly his counterpart Joe Biden at a summit in California ultimate November that China may ship new pandas as “envoys of friendship between the Chinese language and American folks.”

In August, the San Diego zoo welcomed two new large pandas, the primary to be despatched through China to the US in 21 years.

Anticipation for the pandas’ arrival in Washington used to be top, with the Nationwide Zoo’s site emblazoned with a banner that learn: “The pandas are coming.”

One thing “large” is “coming to Washington,” the zoo stated in a put up on X, previously Twitter, including that it will be closed on Tuesday however that for “the protection of the pandas and body of workers, we can no longer divulge any further timing.”

Arrangements had been neatly underway on the zoo, the place pandas had been megastar sights for many years.

Renovations had been undertaken on the panda habitat “to improve the protection of the amenities and maximize house for the bears to roam,” in step with the zoo’s site.

The brand new buildings built for the pandas come with shallow swimming pools so they can shower and bamboo stands that require the bears to imitate the foraging ways they might use within the wild.

The bears won’t, alternatively, be to be had to the general public for greater than a month after their arrival, as they’ll want to be quarantined and to acclimate to their new habitat.

Whilst en direction, the pandas’ in-flight foods will come with bamboo shoots, carrots and Chinese language cornbread, the conservation affiliation stated.

© 2024 AFP