According to overseas news on December 22, the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee, USA, announced on the 21st that it would return the giant pandas Yaya and Lele living in the United States to China, ending their 20-year lease period. Does Panda still have a lease term? Which countries have the largest number of giant pandas on loan? Upstream news is sorted through public reports.
Recently, the lease of many pandas has expired.
A spokesman for the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee said that the decision to send the giant pandas back to China had nothing to do with the pressure from animal rights groups, but was only because China required the leased pandas to return to Chinese soil to spend their last days. According to the spokesperson, "Lele" and "Yaya" are 24 and 22 years old respectively. They have exceeded the life expectancy of giant pandas in the wild by nearly 10 years. Now it is time for them to return to their roots.
Screenshot of Memphis Zoo announcement (picture source: social media)
In addition to "Yaya" and "Lele" who are traveling in the United States, according to Japan Jiji News Agency, "Adventure World" in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan also announced that the Japanese giant panda "Yongming" raised in the park and traveling in Japan, and its twin daughters "Sakurahama" and "Momohama" are scheduled to return to Chengdu, China in February 2023. "Yongming" is 30 years old this year and is the oldest giant panda in Japan. In addition, the female giant panda " Xiangxiang " born at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan, and " Dandan " from Kobe Municipal Oji Zoo in Japan will also return to China in the near future. Most of these giant pandas have expired on loan, but due to the epidemic, their return journey has been repeatedly delayed.
The leasing method began in the 1980s.
According to media reports, giant pandas living overseas and giant panda babies born overseas all belong to China.
It is reported that their relationship with the country where they are located is actually a "rental" relationship, and it is limited - China Wildlife Conservation Association and China Zoo Association have reached an agreement with international animal protection agencies. In the form of cooperative research, other countries can lease a pair of healthy and reproductive giant pandas for 10 years of cooperative research, and the offspring produced during this period will be owned by China. In addition to having the ability to raise giant pandas and formulating research plans that can benefit the pandas, the leasing party must also have various necessary expenditures -
Even so, zoos from various countries are still eager to rent giant pandas. According to upstream news, the "leasing" method began in the 1980s.
According to reports, in the 1950s, my country began to give giant pandas as national gifts to countries or regions that maintain good relations with China and that China hopes to establish relations with.
In 1982, in response to the global call to protect endangered animals, China announced that it would stop sending giant pandas abroad from 1982, and would instead launch a cooperative breeding program for scientific research purposes, sending giant pandas abroad for about 10-15 years. The ownership of these giant pandas and their cubs belongs to China.
The United States has the largest number of treasures living in Japan
According to statistics from The Paper in August 2019, a total of 63 giant pandas live overseas, of which the number of giant pandas living in Japan and the United States reached 10 and 9 respectively. According to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on February 19 last year, the spokesperson said in response to reporters’ questions that currently, China and Japan, the United States, Austria, Thailand, Spain, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Singapore, Belgium , Malaysia , South Korea 22 zoos in 18 countries, including China, the Netherlands, Germany, Indonesia, Finland, Denmark, and Russia, have carried out cooperative research on giant panda conservation. These cooperative conservation studies have promoted academic exchanges between China and foreign countries in the field of endangered species protection, improved the level of conservation scientific research, and strengthened species protection.
More news:
Panda "Diplomat" Family
On August 22, 2019, local time in the United States, Beibei , the giant panda living in the National Zoo in Washington, USA, celebrated his 4th birthday. Beibei's "grandfather" Panpan may have created a "diplomat" family.
According to Xinhuanet, Panpan's descendants account for nearly a quarter of the global captive giant panda population; among them, 21 of the world's 63 overseas giant pandas are Panpan's descendants, which is equivalent to one in every three panda "diplomats" coming from the Panpan family.
Many diplomatic stars have been born in the Panpan family. The painted panda who now lives in Indonesia was called the "real Kung Fu Panda" by the Daily Mail. Fengyi, who now lives in Malaysia, is a witness to the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia. Taishan, who has now returned to China, had previously postponed his return to China for two and a half years at the strong request of the United States out of reluctance to leave. To celebrate, the mayor of Washington also designated the day of the extension as the city's " Panda Day ".
In addition to the Panpan family, the Bingbing family, which is famous for its iconic puffy face, the Hama family living in Japan, and the Meimei family with many children and grandchildren are all famous giant panda families.
Upstream news is synthesized from Overseas Network, Elephant News, Shangguan News, The Paper News, etc. Pictures are from The Paper News, Shangguan News, etc.
