CNN —China will send giant pandas to live at San Francisco’s zoo for the first time, Mayor London Breed has announced. “The memorandum of understanding signed by Mayor Breed and the (China Wildlife Conservation Association) this morning is the first official leased agreement for Giant Pandas to have residency at the San Francisco Zoo,” a media release from the city on Friday reads. “In 1984 and again in 1985, the San Francisco Zoo temporarily hosted Giant Pandas from China as part of a global tour.”In February, it was announced that China would be sending two giant pandas to the San Diego Zoo – marking the first time it has granted new panda loans in the US in two decades, CNN previously reported. The National Zoo was the first US zoo to showcase pandas, and the end of its program had left Zoo Atlanta as the only other US zoo to feature pandas. Fewer than 2,000 giant pandas remain in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund, which lists the species as vulnerable.

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Persons: Mayor London Breed, Mayor Breed, “, ”, Breed, Xi Jinping, Richard Nixon’s Organizations: CNN, Mayor London, Mayor, China Wildlife Conservation Association, Giant Pandas, San Francisco Zoo, Pandas, San Diego Zoo, Smithsonian National Zoo, Zoo, Zoo Atlanta, World Wildlife Fund Locations: China, Francisco’s, “ San Francisco, Washington, Beijing