SAN DIEGO (KGTV)- The San Diego Zoo will soon say goodbye to its Giant Pandas, which are returning to China.
This zoo's pandas will be taken off display after Monday.
“I actually just found out that they were leaving,” says visitor Veronica Pedraza. “So we’re kind of excited that we get the opportunity to see them before they go.”
Visitors say seeing 27-year-old Bai Yun and her six-year-old son, Xiao Liwu, for the last time will be bittersweet.
The San Diego Zoo has been in a conservation and research agreement with China for over two decades. Bai Yun has been at the San Diego Zoo since 1996. She has mothered six panda cubs.
“They let us have them for quite a long time,” says visitor Jacci Brown. “It was a treasure. I can understand why they need to go back.”
The San Diego Zoo says the Panda announcement also coincided with their yearly spring break schedule which drew in historically bigger crowds.
For safety reasons, Zoo officials will not disclose the time the Giant Pandas will be sent back to China, but they say they are hopeful for the future of their Panda conservation program.
