Panda-monium is back! … Or at least, on the way. A pair of 3-year-old giant pandas have begun their journey to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., according to officials from the China Wildlife Conservation Society and Chinese state-owned media.
Bao Li and Qing Bao will arrive nearly a year after the zoo’s last three pandas left for China, leaving D.C. without pandas for the first time in more than two decades.
At the time, it wasn’t clear when — or if — D.C. would ever again be home to giant pandas, but it turned out we wouldn’t have to wait all that long.
In May, officials announced that China planned to send a pair of young pandas, male Bao Li and female Qing Bao. But at the time, they didn’t provide an official arrival date.
On Sunday night, according to Chinese state-owned media, Bao Li and Qing Bao left the Dujiangyan base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in a special vehicle en route to Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.
They were set to then board a special flight to the D.C. area on Monday, according to the Chinese state-owned Xinhua News Agency, with a translation checked by NBC’s Peter Guo.
A spokesperson for the National Zoo declined to comment earlier Monday, but the zoo later announced on social media, “Something giant is coming to Washington, D.C. via the @FedEx Panda Express! The Zoo will be closed to the public tomorrow, Oct. 15. For the safety of the pandas and staff, we will not disclose any additional timing.”