WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Zoo's three celebrity giant pandas will be heading home a little earlier than expected.
Zoo officials told The Associated Press on Thursday that adult bears Mei Xiang and Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji will be returning to China sometime in mid-November.
The zoo’s exchange agreement with the Chinese government, originally brokered by President Richard Nixon 50 years ago, expires Dec. 7.
The San Diego zoo returned its pandas in 2019, and the last bear at the Memphis, Tennessee, zoo went home earlier this year.
The pandas return to China when they reach old age, and any cubs born in the United States are sent to China around age 3 or 4.
Persons:
Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, Xiao Qi Ji, Richard Nixon, Annalisa Meyer
Organizations:
WASHINGTON, Associated Press, U.S, China Wildlife Conservation Association, Zoo, Atlanta Zoo
Locations:
China, Beijing, San Diego, Memphis , Tennessee, America, United States