Chinese, US wildlife protectors sign panda loan agreement
19/12/2008 16:45
Representatives from the China Wildlife Conservation Association and the
San Diego Zoo signed a loan agreement yesterday to extend the zoo's giant panda
conservation cooperation.
Dignitaries from around the world attended the
ceremony at the zoo to extend the panda loan, which began in 1996 and would have
ended in 2008.
The newly extended cooperative agreement allows adult giant
pandas Bai Yun and Gao Gao to stay in San Diego Zoo for another five years.
Young pandas born in the zoo will remain at the zoo's Giant Panda Research
Station until they are four years old, zoo officials said.
According to the
agreement, the majority of the annual 500,000-US-dollar fee will be used to
rebuild the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda at the
Wolong National Nature Reserve in China's Sichuan province.
"In 1996, we
began more than a simple cooperative program," said Douglas Myers, chief
executive officer of the zoo. "We began a conservation effort that has had a
global reach bringing conservationists in China and the United States together
for a common goal."
"The loan agreement between the San Diego Zoo and the
China Wildlife Conservation Association symbolizes the ongoing collaboration
between conservationists in China and San Diego," said Zhang Yun, Consul General
of the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Los Angeles. "This
will be helpful to strengthen the relationship between China and the United
States".
Xinhua
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