If there’s anything Washingtonians love more than brunching and expanding the administrative state, it’s the giant pandas at the National Zoo. On Wednesday, Washington, D.C., dwellers watched with sadness as Tian Tian, Mei Xiang, and Xiao Qi Ji left the zoo via FedEx trucks and, with a police escort, traveled down I-66 to Dulles International Airport, from where they returned to China.

Taking the cuddly creatures back to their home country, from which they were on loan, seems to signal a breakdown in negotiations between Beijing and Washington. But it’s not just the Washington, D.C., pandas that are going home. The pandas in San Diego and Memphis zoos are long gone, and the Atlanta zoo’s four pandas are now the only ones left in the U.S. Even they are expected to be recalled in 2024.