ATLANTA — It was "panda"-monium at Zoo Atlanta Saturday, as the city gets ready to bid farewell to the zoo's long-time residents.
On Saturday, Zoo Atlanta held its "Panda-Palooza" event to celebrate the legacy of the giant pandas and say good-bye to the creatures before they make their journey to China.
Zoo Atlanta previously confirmed that the four black-and-white zoo stars will return home in mid-October. While we don’t know their exact flight details, the zoo encouraged all their loyal fans to stop by and say goodbye before mid-October.
People at the zoo, like Matthew Morris, said they waited at least 45 minutes to an hour to get a last look at the pandas.
"When we heard they were leaving, we came to see their farewell," Morris said.
Aditi Aromi also spent the day with the pandas and said getting to see them one last time was "wonderful."
"We wanted to see the last of the pandas here in the U.S.," she said. Our kids hadn't see the pandas, so we were excited for our them to see them."
Why are the Zoo Atlanta pandas leaving?
The zoo's giant panda program agreement has expired after 25 years. Currently, there are no plans to bring pandas back to the zoo. But in the meantime, be sure to check out Zoo Atlanta’s PandaCam, where you can continue to watch these bamboo enthusiasts until their departure. If you want to see pandas in person, there's still a few other places to do so: including, Mexico City, Qatar, Berlin and others.
Giant pandas are limited to six mountainous areas of southwestern China in the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, and Shanxi. A total of 34 pandas were born last year at two bases in Sichuan, including at Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, a popular tourist destination in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.
More than 1,800 are estimated to exist in the wild, where they are threatened chiefly by habitat loss. About 420 others live in captivity in zoos and reserves, the majority within China.
Zoo Atlanta's panda program
Zoo Atlanta has been home to several giant pandas -- including the first twins born in the United States in over a quarter century -- for the last 25 years. Its last four residents: Ya Lun and Xi Lun and parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang are set to leave for China this month.
Lun Lun and Yang Yang arrived to the zoo in 1999, and seven giant panda cubs have been born at the zoon since 2006. Offspring of Lun Lun and Yang Yang include Mei Lan (born 2006); Xi Lan (born 2008); Po (born 2010); twins Mei Lun and Mei Huan (born 2013); and twins Ya Lun and Xi Lun (born 2016).
Mei Lan, Xi Lan, Po, Mei Lun, and Mei Huan already reside at the Chengdu Research Center of Giant Panda Breeding in China and have since all become parents themselves.