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Three-year-old
Bao Bao, who was the first surviving cub born at Smithsonian's
National Zoo since 2005, has enchanted zoo visitors and others
who watched her via live "panda cam" footage.
"She's captured the hearts of people all over the world who
watched her grow up ... and she has been an ambassador for
conservation," Brandie Smith, associate director of animal care
at the zoo, said in a statement.
Bao Bao will enter the breeding program for giant pandas under
an arrangement between the zoo and the China Wildlife
Conservation Association that says all cubs born at the U.S.
national zoo must move to China by the time they turn 4 years
old.
Upon arrival in Chengdu, China she will travel to a facility run
by the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant
Panda, accompanied by one keeper and one veterinarian from the
National Zoo, officials in Washington said.
The zoo's panda team will continuously monitor Bao Bao during
the trip and will travel with a supply of her favorite treats,
"including bamboo, apples, pears, cooked sweet potatoes and
water."
Bao Bao must reach sexual maturity, between the ages of 5 and
six years old, before entering the breeding program, the zoo
said, and by then she will have acclimated to her new home.
"We are sad to see her go, but excited for the contributions she
is going to continue to make to the global giant panda
population," Smith said.
There are an estimated 1,800 giant pandas in the wild, according
to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which
classes them as "vulnerable."
The national zoo said it will soon announce special
opportunities for the public to say goodbye and celebrate Bao
Bao before she departs for China. Her brother, Tai Shan, was
sent to China in 2010.
(Reporting by Gina Cherelus; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Andrew
Hay)
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