Chinese pandas are coming to the United States and Spain again! The China Wildlife Conservation Association announced on the 22nd, Feb. 2024 that in order to continue promoting the conservation of giant pandas, our association has reached an agreement and signed an agreement with the Madrid Zoo in Spain and the San Diego Zoo in the United States on a new round of international cooperation for giant panda conservation and that at the same time, we are negotiating with the Washington National Zoo in the United States and Tiergarten Sch ö nbrunn in Austria on a new round of cooperation.
The China Wildlife Conservation Association stated that the United States, Austria, Spain, and other countries were the first to cooperate with China in the international protection of giant pandas and have established good cooperative relationships. With the joint efforts of researchers, China, Spain, the United States, and Austria have bred a total of 28 live cubs, making positive contributions to the protection and breeding of giant pandas.
"We are very excited and full of expectations," American media reported on the news as soon as possible. On the 22nd, Megan Irving, Vice President of the Wildlife Union and the Department of Wildlife Conservation Science at San Diego Zoo, told the Associated Press that "welcoming giant pandas again is not only beneficial for San Diego, but also helps to protect them. We hope to restart panda cooperation from San Diego Zoo." The report said that if the relevant procedures are approved, one male and one female giant pandas may arrive as early as the end of this summer. Irving said that Chinese experts will come together and stay in San Diego for a few months.
Forbes magazine website reported on the 22nd that in the past few years, against the backdrop of increasingly tense US China relations, the number of giant pandas living in US zoos has been decreasing. Last year, after the lease agreement expired, both Memphis Zoo and Washington National Zoo returned giant pandas to China. Currently, there are only four giant pandas left in the United States, all of which are located at the Atlanta Zoo. Their lease agreement will expire later this year. This speech has attracted widespread attention in American society, and people are eagerly anticipating more giant pandas coming to the United States.
According to a report on the website of the Madrid Autonomous Region Television on the 22nd, Spain will welcome two new giant pandas as a pair of 21 and 23 year old pandas from the Madrid Zoo are about to return to China. For over 40 years, the giant pandas sent from China to Spain have always been a symbol of good diplomatic relations between the two countries. According to the website of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on February 18th local time, Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Spanish Foreign Minister Alvarez jointly met with reporters in Cordoba. He stated that giant pandas are friendly ambassadors of the two peoples, and the nursery rhyme "La Canción Del Panda" created by Spanish singer "Chulin" has been popular throughout the country, accompanying generations of Spanish children to grow up happily. The Chinese side will wait for the expired panda family to return to China and then transport a pair of young giant pandas to Spain, continuing the "panda relationship" between the two peoples for more than 40 years.
"The giant panda is the national treasure of China and deeply loved by people from all over the world." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning responded to inquiries about international cooperation on giant pandas at a regular press conference on the 22nd, stating that since the 1990's, China has cooperated with 26 institutions from 20 countries to protect giant pandas, effectively enhancing its research capabilities and promoting international cooperation in the protection of rare and endangered wildlife, Enhanced friendship between Chinese and foreign people.