Zoo says it鈥檚 hard to bear but popular pandas return home
Print Edition
THE San Diego Zoo in the US state of California held a special ceremony on Saturday to begin a three-week farewell for two giant pandas.
Twenty-seven-year-old female giant panda Bai Yun and her son, 6-year-old Xiao Liwu, will leave the zoo in late April and return to China, as the zoo’s conservation loan agreement has ended.
The zoo’s giant panda program was established in 1994, the first joint research program between China and the United States, said China’s Consul General in Los Angeles Zhang Ping.
“Like other joint giant panda research and conservation programs in the United States, this program has not only promoted the friendship and understanding between the Chinese and American people, but also pushed forward the bilateral collaboration and joint research on protection and conservation of endangered species of wildlife and biodiversity,” he said.
Erica Kohler, director of operations of the San Diego Zoo, said it is sad to see the two pandas go. However, it is also a time to celebrate the successful collaboration with China on the joint research of panda breeding and wild life protection.
Dubbing the pandas “the friendship ambassadors,” she said Bai Yun and Xiao Liwu attracted about 2 million visitors to the zoo each year.
Bai Yun arrived at the San Diego Zoo in 1996. The cuddly panda soon became an iconic image of the zoo and one of the most popular animals. The name of her son, Xiao Liwu, means “little gift” in English.
Gaylene Thomas, animal care supervisor of the San Diego Zoo, said they learned a lot from the giant pandas and gathered data from them.
Thomas said that as a great mother of six baby pandas, Bai Yun has a very good character and is very easygoing.
“We are very proud to have the opportunity to be with them for the past 20-odd years,” she said.
Many zoo visitors lined up to say goodbye to the pandas, and wrote down their best wishes on cards and posted them on a friendship wall set up in front of the panda exhibition halls.
“The pandas were like our family members, and visiting them were part of our lives over the past 20-odd years,” said Margaret Schmitz, a San Diego native.
Terry Richardson, another visitor who drove several hours with her husband from Lancaster to San Diego just to bid farewell to the giant pandas, said: “They are so adorable, and they are always happy and satisfied with their easy lives.
“We had great joy every time we visited them.”
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