LOS ANGELES. The San Diego Zoo on Thursday opened Panda Ridge, the new home of Xin Bao and Yun Chuan, two giant pandas brought from China as part of a program to protect the species in the United States.
By EFE
August 8, 2024 – 15:26
“I couldn’t be more excited to welcome these new San Diegans,” he said. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria at an opening ceremony also attended by California Governor Gavin Newsom and China’s ambassador to the US, Xie Feng.
A panda named Yun Chuan, one of two giant pandas being introduced to the public for the first time at the San Diego Zoo in San Diego, California, USA.
Been: The Babel of the Pandas
The female Xin Bao, almost 4 years old, and the male Yun Chuan, 5 years old, They arrived in California at the end of June after a long journey from one of the panda reserves in Ya’an (Sichuan province, China), as part of a cooperation agreement for the protection of this species.
“This exchange is about understanding, about something much deeper, much richer than just the two beautiful pandas “that we celebrate,” Newsom said.
Been: Brown panda spotted in China for first time in 6 years
These are The first panda bears that have arrived in the United States since Ya Ya arrived at the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee in 2003.
Two giant pandas from China
Ya Ya said goodbye to the North American country 20 years later and left for China after being transported home on a special plane in April 2023. In November of the same year, three giant pandas left their enclosure at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC.
Since then the North American country has not re-adopted This species, considered a national treasure in China and in a “vulnerable” state, according to World Wild Life (WWF).
During the ceremony, a painting of a panda titled ‘Friendship Across the Earth’ was also unveiled, which is intended to echo the importance of the preservation of species in danger of extinction and the care of ecosystems.
Panda adoptions from other countries stipulate that the cubs must return to China when they reach the age of two and four years, and adults once they reach old age.
China started the so-called ‘Panda Diplomacy’ in the late 1990s. 1950, Although it was not until 1972 when the first copies were given to the United States after a visit to Beijing by the then president Richard Nixon.
