Washington - Forget the US-China spats over arms for Taiwan, internet freedom, Iran sanctions, the Dalai Lama and trade.
(Photo) Four-year-old giant panda Tai Shan walks in the snow on his last day of public viewing at the National Zoo in Washington DC, USA, 03 February 2010.
Tai Shan departs for the Wolong Natural Reserve in Sichuan, China, 04 February 2010. Tai Shan was born at the National Zoo in 2005 and was granted a two-extension by the Chinese government in 2007. China owns all giant pandas in US zoos.
On Thursday, the first panda ever to grow up at Washington's National Zoo is to return to China under a long-standing, amicable agreement with a Chinese panda conservation programme.
The panda Tai Shan captured the hearts of Washingtonians when he was born in July 2005, the first successful births after decades of highly publicized matings and disappointments.
Thousands of fans helped name Tai Shan - it means "peaceful mountain - and then followed his carefully-monitored growth on a webcam. He gained the affectionate nickname Butterstick, after zookeepers said the infant cub was the size of a stick of butter.
Once the black and white celebrity was large enough for visitors, crowds flocked to the zoo to see him, with tickets to the panda exhibit selling out weeks in advance.
Tai Shan was always destined to be sent to China under the agreement between the National Zoo run by the Smithsonian Institute and the China Wildlife Conservation Association. He was originally to be returned to China at age two, but the zoo was granted an extension that allowed Tai Shan to stay in Washington an additional two and a half years.
A special farewell party was held for the zoo's most famous resident last week despite a snowstorm that brought much of the city to a standstill. Visitors could view special exhibits, watch performances sponsored by the Chinese embassy and make special good-bye cards that will accompany Tai Shan to China.
On Thursday, Tai Shan is to board a specially outfitted FedEx flight to China along with another young panda Mei Lan, born at Zoo Atlanta. The plane has been specially decorated with a panda image.
The trip is to take 14 and a half hours from Washington to Chengdu. Each panda is to be accompanied by a familiar keeper.
The pandas will be part of a breeding programme in China, with the hopes that one day their offspring may be returned to the wild, the zoo said.
Pandas have been a sort of mascot for Washington since the first animals arrived at the zoo as a gift to president Richard Nixon from China in 1972. The image of two pandas graces subway tickets. A public art exhibit of painted panda statues popped up around the city in 2004.
Tai Shan's mother, Mei Xiang, and his father, Tian Tian, arrived in Washington in 2000 under a 10-year agreement with China. Negotiations will begin in the spring to determine whether the pair will be returned to China or remain longer in the US.
Zookeepers hope the pair will soon produce another cub after artificially inseminating the female panda with her partner's sperm last month. As usual, zookeepers won't know if it was successful until a cub is born.
DPA
