US-born Pandas on way ‘home’ to China

CHINA: A pair of pandas born in captivity in the United States were headed home on Friday to China, where officials say they hope they will do their part to boost the species’ dwindling population.

Tai Shan and Mei Lan beloved by zoo-goers in Washington and Atlanta, where they were born were en route to Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan, to join China’s panda breeding programme.

Sichuan is home to two of the country’s four breeding centres, where experts are desperately trying to encourage mating by one of the world’s most endangered species to ensure their survival.

The pandas, who will live in separate refuges, are heading back to China aboard a specially fitted jet dubbed the “Panda Express” under an agreement with the United States. Tai Shan was born in Washington four and a half years ago, to parents loaned to the United States by Beijing, and Mei Lan came into the world at the Atlanta zoo three years ago. BEIJING, Friday, AFP