Pandas To Travel To San Diego Zoo From China

A pair of giant pandas will soon make the journey from China to the U.S., where they will be cared for at the San Diego Zoo. It's part of an ongoing conservation partnership between the two nations. The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said its caretakers recently visited China to meet the giant pandas, Yunchuan and Xinbao, ahead of their planned trip to Southern California. An exact date for the handoff hasn't been set. Yunchuan, a mild-mannered male who's nearly five years old, has deep connections to California. His mother, Zhenzhen, was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007. Xinbao is a nearly four-year-old female described as a gentle and witty introvert with a sweet round face and big ears. The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has a nearly 30-year partnership with leading conservation institutions in China and the bamboo forests they depend on. Meanwhile, in Northern California, San Francisco Mayor London Breed visited China earlier in April with promises of giant panda diplomacy. She said the San Francisco Zoo will welcome pandas from China soon, but no date has been set yet. Beijing is known to use pandas as a form of soft diplomacy. The communist regime sends them to friendly nations on loan and may refuse to extend the bears' visits as punishment for going against Beijing. It costs American zoos $1 million to welcome a pair of pandas for a year. China uses the money to support its conservation research.