A pair of pandas eagerly awaited in Washington began a long journey from China to the American capital on Monday, announced the Chinese organization responsible for protecting the species and their future zoo.
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Departing from China’s Sichuan province, male Bao Li and female Qing Bao, both three years old, were placed in individual cages with a large supply of bamboo for the trip, according to the China Conservation Association. wildlife and images broadcast by the CNN channel.
These two mammals with a strong diplomatic symbol will receive a very media welcome on Tuesday in Washington, the city having not had any pandas for almost a year.
AFP
The two VIPs (Very Important Pandas) travel on a special plane, called Panda Express, under the constant veterinary control of a team of caretakers from Washington.
The announcement of the arrival of Bao Li and Qing Bao was made at the end of May by the American First Lady, Jill Biden, and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
It is in this Washington zoo that the American public will be able to discover the two “pandassaders” in a few weeks, once a period of quarantine and acclimatization to the air of the capital has passed.
AFP
The zoo fueled the suspense by publishing on Monday evening an enigmatic video of a bamboo grove agitated by an activity which could be that of a giant panda.
“Something huge is happening to Washington,” wrote the institution, declaring an exceptional day of closure on Tuesday to welcome the couple of ursids.
Three previous pandas housed in Washington returned to China in November 2023. A departure, upon the expiration of a loan contract, which had been widely considered to reflect tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The first pair of pandas was offered by Beijing to the United States in 1972, following a historic visit by President Richard Nixon to Mao Tse-Tung’s communist China.
