2 giant pandas arrive in Atlanta under a US-China government agreement

Two giant pandas arrived in Atlanta as part of an agreement between the Chinese and American governments. Ping Ping and Fu Shuang departed Chengdu in southwestern China aboard a dedicated “FedEx Panda Express” Boeing 777 aircraft, officials said. A new agreement between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association makes Atlanta one of three zoos in the U.S. to house giant pandas, along with the San Diego Zoo in California and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. “This is a thrilling day for Zoo Atlanta and a historic moment for the City of Atlanta, the state of Georgia, and beyond,” Zoo Atlanta President and CEO Raymond B. King said in a statement. “We are elated to welcome Ping Ping and Fu Shuang and could not be more excited about sharing that joy with our members, guests, city, and community in the coming weeks.” Zoo visitors will have to wait a while to see Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, officials said. The bears will be quarantined for about a month in a biosecure area of the wildlife park's new giant panda complex. Park officials haven't confirmed a specific opening date. The pandas' arrival was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a three-day summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. The loan of the pandas was one of the few concrete outcomes to come out of the state visit, which saw expressions of goodwill between the leaders, but no fixes to any of the long-standing differences between the two countries. Atlanta said farewell to its last pandas in 2024, leaving the zoo without the bears. The new agreement was announced back in April, but without any dates. China has long used the pandas as part of its diplomacy globally, deploying the bears in loan programs as expressions of goodwill and letting loan agreements lapse when tensions arise. This article was provided by The Associated Press.