Thousands of people visited the Washington Zoo to say goodbye to the giant pandas, which will return to China in December. The 25- and 26-year-old specimens arrived in America more than twenty years ago, in 2000, where they were originally supposed to stay for ten years, but the agreement was extended three times. Analysts see political reasons behind the return of the pandas.
Visitors flocked to the Washington Zoo over the weekend to get one last look at their favorites, the giant pandas. The animals will soon be sent back to China. 25-year-old Mei Xiang and 26-year-old Tian Tian came to the zoo more than twenty years ago, in 2000, as part of a cooperative research and breeding program with the China Wildlife Association. They were originally supposed to stay for ten years, but the agreement was extended three times.
Beijing has been sending pandas to countries with which it maintains good relations since the 1950s, a gesture that has been called panda diplomacy over the decades.
The Washington Zoo's giant panda program began in 1972, shortly after US President Richard Nixon made a historic visit to China.
The Washington Zoo signed a contract with the China Wildlife Conservation Society in 2000 and borrowed the current giant pandas for ten years, for which it paid one million dollars a year.
However, China requested the return of the giant pandas not only from Washington, but also from zoos in Atlanta, San Diego and Memphis.
This was justified by the fact that the pandas had already reached the age when they had to return to China anyway, and according to the agreement, they should have returned to the country before the coronavirus epidemic.
Analysts, however
they see political reasons behind the return of the pandas,
after diplomatic relations between Washington and Beijing reached a historic low in the recent period.
Source: M1 / hirado.hu
Photo: Maryse Rebaudo / Pixabay
