旅美大熊猫正陆续返回中国
It is 2023 now. Soon, there won’t be any pandas left in zoos in the United States. They are all being sent back to China. China first sent pandas to the U.S. in 1972. They went to live at the National Zoo. Now China is taking its pandas back.
“We are going to miss these bears,” Trish Jarvis said. She’s an animal keeper at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. That’s in Washington, D.C. The zoo had three pandas — Tian Tian, Mei Xiang, and Xiao Qi Ji. It sent them back to China on November 8, 2023. The only pandas at Zoo Atlanta, in Georgia are to be returned early next year. They are Lun Lun, Yang Yang, Ya Lun and Xi Lun.
The giant panda used to be an endangered species (濒危物种). But its numbers have become greater. About 1,800 are living in the wild in China. In 2016, the giant panda became a vulnerable (易危) species. But people can continue to help with panda protection, Jarvis says.
The Smithsonian’s bears traveled to China on a FedEx plane. They were very safe there. Jarvis says she’ll always value her relationship with them. “Every bear is different,” she says. “They’re like any other animal—your dog or cat. They have a personality.”