2023-12-04 20:31:20
They were the only ones present in the United Kingdom and therefore treated a bit like stars. Twelve years after their arrival in Scotland, two giant pandas on loan to the United Kingdom flew this Monday morning to return to China, while diplomatic relations between London and Beijing have cooled. Quarantined since early November in preparation for the trip, Yang Guang, a male, and Tian Tian, a female, left Edinburgh Zoo on a special cargo plane that will take them to the city of Chengdu, in Sichuan province .
Scientists have long hoped that the duo, who arrived in 2011, would take advantage of their Scottish stay to reproduce, but they did not have any babies. Yang Guang and Tian Tian were loaned as part of a ten-year deal between Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and the China Wildlife Conservation Association.
They had an “incredible impact”
The two pandas “have had an incredible impact, inspiring millions of people to care about nature,” said David Field, executive director of the RZSS, quoted by the PA agency.
They had arrived in the United Kingdom thanks to the “panda diplomacy” led by Beijing, which swarmed its ursids across the planet to seal the improvement in its diplomatic relations. But relations have become strained in recent years between China and certain Western powers, including the United States and the United Kingdom.
Last month, three giant pandas loaned to the Washington Zoo since 2000 also returned to China. Four other pandas are also due to leave Zoo Atlanta during 2024.
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