Giant pandas set to leave San Diego Zoo after two-decade loan from China

Giant male panda Xiao Liwu eats a meal of bamboo before being repatriated to China with his mother Bai Yun, bringing an end to a 23-year-long panda research program in San Diego, California, U.S., April 18, 2019. Picture taken April 18, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The last two giant pandas living at the San Diego Zoo in California will be sent to the People's Republic of China this spring, ending a more than two-decade conservation programme that helped bring the black-and-white bears back from the brink of extinction.

The two remaining pandas, Bai Yun and her 6-year-old cub Xiao Liwu, will be sent to China in the coming days after three weeks of goodbyes that culminated over the weekend, the last chance for Californians to see them.