The pandas are coming! The pandas are coming!

OCTOBER 15, 2024:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Zoo’s long dark panda drought seems to be coming to an end.

Eleven months after the zoo sent its three wildly popular pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji — back to China, a new pair of bears is set to arrive.

A pair of three-year old giant pandas, named Bao Li and Qing Bao, have left a research facility in the southwestern Chinese city of Dujiangyan and will soon be flown to Washington, according to a statement by the China Wildlife Conservation Association.

“Food prepared for the trip includes corn bread, bamboo and carrots, as well as water and medicine,” the statement said, adding that the partnership will “make new contributions in protecting global biodiversity and enhance the friendship of the people from the two countries.”

It’s unclear exactly when the bears will arrive in Washington, but there will likely be an extended quarantine and acclimation period before they are introduced to the public. On Monday evening (Oct. 14, 2024), the zoo’s website posted an alert that the entire facility would be closed Tuesday, without giving a reason. The lead article on the site still said the pandas would be coming sometime before the end of the year.

Bao Li (precious vigor) and Qing Bao (green treasure) arrive in Washington as part of a new 10-year agreement with Chinese authorities. The previous deal expired last year, leading to some concern among American panda-lovers that Beijing was gradually pulling its furry friendship ambassadors from American zoos amid rising diplomatic tensions.

Breeding pairs in zoos in Memphis and San Diego had already returned to China earlier and the four pandas in the Atlanta zoo left for China last week.

That anxiety turned to optimism last November when Chinese President Xi Jinping publicly stated a desire to continue the panda exchange programs. This year, a new pair of bears has been delivered to the San Diego Zoo, while another pair has been promised to San Francisco.

In Washington, National Zoo officials remained conspicuously silent about negotiations for a new panda agreement, but they expressed optimism about striking a new deal and launched a multimillion-dollar renovation of its panda enclosure in anticipation. Then in late May, zoo director Brandie Smith teamed up with first lady Jill Biden to announce that Bao Li and Qing Bao would be arriving by the end of this year.

The Chinese announcement said the National Zoo had sent “three experienced keepers and veterinary experts” to China to assist the transport and accompany the bears.

Zoo officials on Monday declined to confirm the Chinese announcement. Zoo spokesperson Jennifer Zoon said in an email, “For the safety of animals and staff, we are not able to confirm any details at this time.” But signs at the zoo and on its social media site have heralded the planned return of the pandas and panda-themed merchandise still dominates the gift shops.

“The giant pandas are an iconic part of the Washington, D.C., story, both for locals and incoming travelers alike,” said Elliott L. Ferguson, II, president and CEO of Destination DC. “The interest and excitement associated with their return directly benefits the entire city, bringing further interest and visitors to our hotels, restaurants and other attractions.”

The exact terms of the deal are still unclear; under previous 10-year agreements the Chinese government receives $1 million per year, per bear. Any cubs born in overseas zoos are typically returned to China before they reach age four.

Pandas have become one of the unofficial symbols of the nation’s capital, dating back to 1972 when the first pair — Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing — were sent as a gift from Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai following President Richard Nixon’s historic diplomatic visit to China. Later, a rolling series of 10-year cooperation agreements was struck.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, credited the decades of cooperation with advancing research into panda preservation and breeding. During the lifespan of these agreements, giant pandas have been reclassified from an endangered species to merely vulnerable.

“The current round of cooperation will focus on prevention and treatment of major diseases, and protection of habitats and wild giant panda populations,” Liu said in an email. “We hope the arrival of the pandas will inject fresh impetus into exchanges between China and the U.S., and help to stabilize the broader bilateral relationship as well.”

AUGUST 9, 2024:

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The two giant pandas sent from China to the United States earlier this year are making their public debut at the San Diego Zoo. California Governor Gavin Newsom and local officials have rolled out the red carpet Thursday (Aug. 8, 2024) for Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, the two young bears that have been acclimating to their new “Panda Ridge” habitat since arriving at the Zoo in June. They are the first pandas that have been sent from China in two decades since the country reignited its panda diplomacy efforts after a brief hiatus.

JUNE 27, 2024:

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A pair of giant pandas are on their way from China to the U.S., where they will be cared for at the San Diego Zoo as part of an ongoing conservation partnership between the two nations, officials said Wednesday (June 26, 2024).

Officials with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance were on hand in China for a farewell ceremony commemorating the departure of the giant pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao.

The celebration included cultural performances, video salutations from Chinese and American students and a gift exchange among conservation partners, the zoo said in a statement. After the ceremony, the giant pandas began their trip to Southern California.

“This farewell celebrates their journey and underscores a collaboration between the United States and China on vital conservation efforts,” Paul Baribault, the wildlife alliance president, said in a statement. “Our long-standing partnership with China Wildlife Conservation Association has been instrumental in advancing giant panda conservation, and we look forward to continuing our work together to ensure the survival and thriving of this iconic species.”

It could be several weeks before the giant pandas will be viewable to the public in San Diego, officials said.

Yun Chuan, a mild-mannered male who’s nearly 5 years old, has connections to California, the wildlife alliance said previously. His mother, Zhen Zhen, was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007 to parents Bai Yun and Gao Gao.

Xin Bao is a nearly 4-year-old female described as “a gentle and witty introvert with a sweet round face and big ears.”

The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has a nearly 30-year partnership with leading conservation institutions in China focused on protecting and recovering giant pandas and the bamboo forests they depend on.

MAY 29, 2024:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two giant pandas are coming to Washington’s National Zoo from China by the end of the year.

The zoo made the announcement Wednesday (May 29, 2024), about half a year after it sent its three pandas back to China.

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute said the pair of pandas are Bao Li (pronounced BOW’-lee) and Qing Bao (ching-BOW’). Giant pandas are icons in Washington, D.C., and beloved around the nation and the world. For more than five decades, the institute has created and maintained one of the world’s foremost giant panda conservation programs, helping move the panda from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on the global list of species at risk of extinction.

“We’re thrilled to announce the next chapter of our breeding and conservation partnership begins by welcoming two new bears, including a descendent of our beloved panda family, to Washington, D.C.,” said Brandie Smith, the institute’s John and Adrienne Mars director. “This historic moment is proof positive our collaboration with Chinese colleagues has made an irrefutable impact. Through this partnership, we have grown the panda population, advanced our shared understanding of how to care for this beloved bear and learned what’s needed to protect wild pandas and preserve native habitat.”

In the video announcement released today on the institute’s social media channels, first lady Dr. Jill Biden joined Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III and Smith to reveal pandas are coming back to the nation’s capital. This news comes just six months after giant pandas Tian Tian, Mei Xiang and their cub, Xiao Qi Ji, went to China last November, prompting a nationwide outpouring of farewell from millions of panda fans of all ages.

MAY 17, 2024:

ATLANTA (AP) — The last U.S. zoo with pandas in its care expects to say goodbye to the four giant bears this fall.

Zoo Atlanta is making preparations to return panda parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang to China along with their American-born twins Ya Lun and Xi Lun, zoo officials said Friday (May 17, 2024). There is no specific date for the transfer yet, they said, but it will likely happen between October and December.

The four Atlanta pandas have been the last in the United States since the National Zoo in Washington returned three pandas to China last November. Other American zoos have sent pandas back to China as loan agreements lapsed amid heightened diplomatic tensions between the two nations.

Atlanta received Lun Lun and Yang Yang from China in 1999 as part of a 25-year loan agreement that will soon expire.

Ya Lun and Xi Lun, born in 2016, are the youngest of seven pandas born at Zoo Atlanta since their parents arrived. Their siblings are already in the care of China’s Chengdu Research Center of Giant Panda Breeding.

It is possible that America will welcome a new panda pair before the Atlanta bears depart. The San Diego Zoo said last month that staff members recently traveled to China to meet pandas Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, which could arrive in California as soon as this summer.

Zoo Atlanta officials said in a news release they should be able to share “significant advance notice” before their pandas leave. As to whether Atlanta might see host any future pandas, “no discussions have yet taken place with partners in China,” zoo officials said.

APRIL 29, 2024:

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A pair of giant pandas will soon make the journey from China to the U.S., where they will be cared for at the San Diego Zoo as part of an ongoing conservation partnership between the two nations, officials said Monday (April 29, 2024).

The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said its caretakers recently visited China to meet the giant pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, ahead of their planned trip to Southern California. An exact date for the handoff hasn’t been set.

Yun Chuan, a mild-mannered male who’s nearly 5 years old, has “deep connections” to California, the wildlife alliance said. His mother, Zhen Zhen, was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007 to parents Bai Yun and Gao Gao.

Xin Bao is a nearly 4-year-old female described as “a gentle and witty introvert with a sweet round face and big ears.”

“Our conservation partners in China shared photographs and personality traits of Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, but meeting them in person was so special,” said Dr. Megan Owen, the alliance’s vice president of conservation science. “It’s inspiring as people from around the world come together to conserve, protect, and care for these special bears, and we can’t wait to welcome them to San Diego.”

FEBRUARY 22, 2024:

SAN DIEGO (AP) — China is planning to send a new pair of giant pandas to the San Diego Zoo after a few years in which nearly all the iconic bears in the U.S. were sent home. Megan Owen of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says the zoo has been working with China and expects to get a pair by summer’s end (2024) if the permits are approved. The black-and-white bears have long been a symbol of friendship between U.S. and China, but only four remained in the U.S. as relations began to cool between the two nations. In November 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping raised hopes that California might get more pandas.

NOVEMBER 16, 2023:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping is signaling that China will send new pandas to the United States. Xi calls pandas “envoys of friendship” between the Chinese and American people. During a speech before business leaders Wednesday (Nov. 15, 2023), Xi said China is ready to continue its cooperation with the U.S. on panda conservation. The comment came at the end of a day on which Xi and President Joe Biden held their first face-to-face meeting in a year and pledged to try to reduce tensions. Xi did not share details on when or where pandas might be provided. There are only four pandas left in the United States, in the Atlanta Zoo.

NOVEMBER 9, 2023:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two giant pandas and their cub are headed from the National Zoo in Washington to China. Three large white crates containing the pandas were loaded by forklifts onto waiting trucks — along with several bushels of bamboo for road snacks. From there, the bears traveled early Wednesday (Nov. 8, 2023) to Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia, where they were loaded onto a specially outfitted Boeing 777F dubbed the FedEx Panda Express. The 19-hour flight to Chengdu, China will include a refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska. As the bears return to China at the end of the National Zoo’s exchange agreement, diplomatic tensions between Beijing and multiple Western governments could complicate efforts to bring more giant pandas to American zoos.

OCTOBER 3, 2023:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Zoo’s three giant pandas are set to return to China in December with no public signs the 50-year-old exchange agreement struck by President Richard Nixon will continue. There are diplomatic tensions between China and a number of Western governments. And China appears to be gradually pulling back its pandas from Western zoos as their agreements expire. The departure of the bears from the nation’s capital would mean the only giant pandas left in America are at the Atlanta Zoo — and that agreement expires next year. Panda-philes visiting the Washington zoo say they’re making plans to visit Atlanta next summer to see those pandas before they leave.

Extended version:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Wearing an “I Love Pandas” T-shirt and clutching a panda-covered diary, Kelsey Lambert bubbled with excitement as she glimpsed the real thing. She and her mother, Alison, had made a special trip from San Antonio just to watch the National Zoo’s furry rock stars casually munching bamboo and rolling around on the grass.

“It felt completely amazing,” Kelsey, age 10, said Friday. “My mom has always promised she would take me one day. So we had to do it now that they’re going away.”

The National Zoo’s three giant pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji — are set to return to China in early December with no public signs that the 50-year-old exchange agreement struck by President Richard Nixon will continue.

National Zoo officials have remained tight-lipped about the prospects of renewing or extending the agreement, and repeated attempts to gain comment on the state of the negotiations did not receive a response. However, the public stance of the zoo has been decidedly pessimistic — treating these remaining months as the end of an era. The zoo just finished a weeklong celebration called Panda Palooza: A Giant Farewell.

The potential end of the National Zoo’s panda era comes amid what veteran China-watchers say is a larger trend. With diplomatic tensions running high between Beijing and a number of Western governments, China appears to be gradually pulling back its pandas from multiple Western zoos as their agreements expire.

Dennis Wilder, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues, called the trend “punitive panda diplomacy,” noting that two other American zoos have lost their pandas in recent years, while zoos in Scotland and Australia are facing similar departures with no signs of their loan agreements being renewed.

Beijing currently lends out 65 pandas to 19 countries through “cooperative research programs” with a stated mission to better protect the vulnerable species. The pandas return to China when they reach old age and any cubs born are sent to China around age 3 or 4.

The San Diego zoo returned its pandas in 2019, and the last bear at the Memphis, Tennessee, zoo went home earlier this year. The departure of the National Zoo’s bears would mean that the only giant pandas left in America are at the Atlanta Zoo — and that loan agreement expires late next year.

Wilder said the Chinese possibly could be “trying to send a signal.”

He cited a litany of Chinese-American flashpoints: sanctions imposed by the U.S. government on prominent Chinese citizens and officials; restrictions on the import of Chinese semiconductors; accusations that Chinese-made fentanyl is flooding American cities; suspicion over Chinese ownership of the social media platform TikTok; and the uproar early this year over the Chinese balloon floating over America.

Beijing, Wilder said, is convinced that “NATO and the United States are lining up against China.”

The panda-related tension has even spilled into the hallways of the U.S. Senate. Last week, Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman complained about China buying up American farmland and added, “I mean, they’re taking back our pandas. You know, we should take back all their farmland.”

That animosity has been at least partially shared by the public in China, where anti-American sentiments are on the rise. Those sentiments developed into a perfect panda storm earlier this year when Le Le, a male panda on loan to the zoo in Memphis, died suddenly in February at the age of 24. Pandas generally live 15 to 20 years in the wild, while those in human care often live to be around 30.

Le Le’s unexpected death prompted an explosion on Chinese social media platforms like Weibo, with widespread allegations that the Memphis zoo had mistreated the bear and its female companion, Ya Ya. The campaign gained intensity when photos circulated on the Internet of Ya Ya looking dirty and gaunt (by panda standards) with patchy fur.

An online petition on Change.org demanded Ya Ya be returned immediately, alleging malnourishment and deprivation of proper medical care. Slogans such as “the panda’s life matters” surfaced in China’s social media along with emotional memes pleading with authorities to rescue the bear. One particular meme depicts a miserable-looking Ya Ya gazing at a plane flying overhead with the caption: “Mama, I have worked away from home for 20 years. Have I earned enough for a plane ticket to return home?”

The heat grew so intense that the Memphis Zoo released a statement responding to what it called “misinformation” about its pandas and stating that Ya Ya has “a chronic skin and fur condition” that “makes her hair look thin and patchy” and that Le Le died of natural causes.

Even an official Chinese scientific delegation that visited Memphis and announced that Le Le was not mistreated and died of a heart condition failed to quell the outrage. Ya Ya was returned to China on schedule in April when the loan agreement expired and received a celebrity’s welcome at Shanghai’s airport.

The Chinese government, which gifted the first pair of pandas — Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling — to the U.S., now leases the pandas out for a typical 10-year renewable term. The annual fee ranges from $1 million to $2 million per pair, plus mandatory costs to build and maintain facilities to house the animals. Any cub born to the pandas belongs to the Chinese government but can be leased for an additional fee until it reaches mating age.

Over the 50 years of American panda loan agreements, the arrangement has hit more than one rough patch. In 2010, Daniel Ashe, then head of the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, traveled to China to help resolve a technical bureaucratic issue that was threatening the renewal of the National Zoo’s agreement. The problem was quickly resolved, and the agreement was extended.

“But the situation now is completely different,” said Ashe, now CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. “What we’re seeing now is tensions between our governments at a much higher level, and they need to be addressed and resolved at that level.”

Observers are holding out hope that exactly this sort of 11th-hour high-level intervention will come through. Wilder pointed to the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November as a potential forum for President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping to make headlines by breaking the deadlock. And Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Xie Feng has sounded semi-optimistic in his public statements.

“I will do my utmost to do that, and here, in Aspen, there also will be (pandas),” Xie said during the Aspen Security Forum in July in Aspen, Colorado.

But for now, panda-philes of all ages are making pilgrimages to Washington for a last glimpse at the bears. At the zoo on Friday, amid the chatter of children, was an adult couple with a baby on the way — each wearing matching panda-ears headbands. Colleen Blue and John Nungesser came from outside Philadelphia to see the pandas; this was Blue’s third time.

“I’ve been obsessed with them since I was little. I used to just bury people in panda facts,” she said.

Nungesser nodded, adding, “On our first date, she went on and on about pandas.”

Blue said she broke into tears and “had a temper tantrum” when she found out that Washington’s pandas would be leaving. The couple is already making plans, after their baby is born, to take the infant to see the pandas in Atlanta next summer before they leave.

And Alison Lambert, Kelsey’s mom, said she remains optimistic that both sides will work out an agreement simply because it’s mutually beneficial. And if they don’t, Kelsey is already developing Plan B.

“We could always fly to China,” she said. “That works, too.”

The pandas are coming! The pandas are coming!

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