The pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, live at the San Diego Zoo.
A pair of pandas from China will soon find a new home in America’s greatest city: San Diego, California.
Panda diplomatic ambassadors Yun Chuan and Xin Bao are the first new panda pair to come to the United States in 21 years.
Zookeeper Huangshan has been preparing the animals for the journey, including teaching them directions in English, and is traveling with the three- and four-year-old bears to help them get used to their new home.
Yun Chuan is active and sociable, coming whenever he hears his caretakers’ footsteps, while Xin Bao is more sensitive but intelligent, interested in the sounds of animals and birds, he said.
The pandas departed on Thursday in the city of Ya’an, where a private farewell ceremony was held for the animals, attended by Chinese dignitaries and representatives from the San Diego Zoo.
San Diego Zoo President and CEO Paul Baribeau told “Good Morning America” that it was an emotional moment for the team.
“It’s a moment where you really have to pinch yourself and believe that you’re a part of an organization that can do something like this,” he said.
Baribeau said the conservation team members [the pandas] “They are being well cared for throughout the journey,” he said, adding that the San Diego-based team and their conservation partners in China “will be traveling with them. It’s going to be an incredible journey.”
With chaos unfolding across the continental United States, visitors will likely have to wait a little longer to catch a glimpse of the gentle giants while they get accustomed to their new habitat.
