Community Corner
Bao Bao the Panda Rolls Through Reston on the Way to China
The panda was on her way to Dulles International Airport to take a one-way trip back to her home country.
RESTON, VA — Bao Bao the panda was finally loaded into a FedEx 777 aircraft at Dulles International Airport Tuesday afternoon, and she rode in a truck through Reston on the Dulles Toll Road on her journey from the National Zoo in D.C. to the airport.
The Panda Express, as the aircraft is being called, will take Bao Bao to China three and a half years after being born at the National Zoo. She is part of a collaborative breeding program between the United States and China that stipulates that pandas born in D.C. be sent back to China by the time they reach 4 years of age. Bao Bao was born in August 2013.
Local news stations broadcast footage of the truck carrying Bao Bao driving down the Dulles Toll Road, passing through Reston and finally arriving at her plane. At 1:28 p.m., ABC 7's Richard Reeve posted footage on Twitter of Bao Bao being loaded into the plane that would take her back to her homeland.
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There goes Bao Bao! Loaded into the 777 playing that will take her to China pic.twitter.com/V6PLPOc1dg
— Richard Reeve (@abc7Richard) February 21, 2017
Bao Bao is flying to China. Fellow passengers include a bunch of tiny toy pandas, safely strapped in https://t.co/BD35YDByzV #ByeByeBaoBao pic.twitter.com/vrb36HAIeX
— CNN (@CNN) February 21, 2017
Image via MWAA Police Department
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