America’s last pandas expected to leave Atlanta for China this autumn
- Lun Lun and Yang Yang, along with their US-born twins Ya Lun and Xi Lun, are likely to be returned between October and December, though there is no set date
- Atlanta received the panda parents from China in 1999 as part of a 25-year loan agreement that will soon expire
The last US zoo with pandas in its care expects to say goodbye to the four giant bears this fall.
Zoo Atlanta is making preparations to return panda parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang to China along with their American-born twins Ya Lun and Xi Lun, zoo officials said Friday.
There is no specific date for the transfer yet, they said, but it is likely to happen between October and December.
The four Atlanta pandas have been the last in the United States since the National Zoo in Washington returned three pandas to China last November. Other American zoos have sent pandas back to China as loan agreements lapsed amid heightened diplomatic tensions between the two nations.
Atlanta received Lun Lun and Yang Yang from China in 1999 as part of a 25-year loan agreement that will soon expire.