Beijing Zoo Gets 2 U.S. Oxen to Replace Pair Given by Nixon

BEIJING — U.S. officials formally presented the Beijing Zoo with two Alaskan musk oxen today as a Georgia woman who first suggested the gift beamed fondly at the shaggy animals.

Four-year-old Tanana, a female, and 3-year-old Koyuk stood with lowered heads in their outdoor enclosure as a horde of diplomats, wildlife experts and reporters gathered on the other side of the fence.

“They’re beautiful,” Helen Miller, 65, of Moultrie, Ga., said of the 300-pound animals.

Miller began campaigning in 1980 for the United States to present two musk oxen to China. She felt it was a matter of “national honor” to replace two U.S. animals, given to China in 1972 by President Richard M. Nixon, that had died of old age.