Seems like an odd gesture of annoyance. It's not like there can be that many people that go to the San Diego Zoo just to see the pandas. From what I can see i

Seems like an odd gesture of annoyance. It's not like there can be that many people that go to the San Diego Zoo just to see the pandas. From what I can see in the article, China "loans" their female panda to SDZ, then she gets pregnant, delivers babies, and they get shipped back to China when they are weaned. It really sounds like a good deal for them--SDZ takes care of the animal at their own expense and periodically sends back babies. China can't recall the panda expertise of the zookeepers in San Diego--or the panda habitat and operations funding--along with the panda, so if the recalled female fails to get pregnant while in China, that's a loss for the worldwide panda conservation program. SDZ visitors will still be in one of the largest zoos in the entire world, and can walk past the closed exhibit to the next one. It's like National Lampoon's "buy this magazine or we will shoot this dog" issue, except not a joke. "Lower your tariffs or we will threaten this species?"