Zoo Atlanta’s last 4 pandas are leaving for China

ATLANTA (AP) — Zoo Atlanta’s last four giant pandas will be moved to China next month, as its 25-year agreement with the country comes to an end.

“While Zoo Atlanta will certainly miss Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Ya Lun, and Xi Lun, and their departure is bittersweet, they have created a momentous legacy here in Atlanta and around the world, leaving their mark not only in the hearts of their friends and fans, but on the scientific and zoological communities’ understanding of the behavior, biology, and care of this rare and treasured species,” said Raymond B. King, the zoo’s president and CEO.

The move comes after 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 loan agreement. Ya Lun and Xi Lun are their twins born in the U.S. in 2016. They are the youngest of seven pandas born at Zoo Atlanta since 2006. Their siblings, including another set of twins, are already in the care of China’s Chengdu Research Center of Giant Panda Breeding.

With only about three weeks left to visit the beloved pandas, the zoo is planning a “Panda-Palooza” event on Oct. 5, with special activities wishing the animals farewell.