Zoo Atlanta is making plans for the potential return of some of their most beloved residents.
Zoo officials announced on Feb. 19 that they’ve started talks with partners in China about bringing the giant panda program back to the Grant Park facility.
Zoo Atlanta is also in the preliminary design phase of an expansion to the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation Giant Panda Conservation Center, located in the Asian Forest Zone section of the facility.
This comes after the zoo’s lease for the pandas with China ended in October 2024, with the animals flown back to their homeland, much to the dismay of many Zoo Atlanta regulars. Their departure marked the end of the zoo’s 25-year agreement with China, which aimed to promote the conservation of giant pandas.
According to zoo officials at the time of the animals’ departure, the facility invested $17 million in the conservation of giant pandas, representing its “most significant long-term investment in wildlife conservation.”
