When two giant pandas move to the San Diego Zoo — possibly in the next month or two — they will get twice the amount of space as used by the last panda pair — more room in which to roll around, munch bamboo and just be cute. Plus a neighboring habitat is set up for them, too.
The zoo will host the black-and-white duo under a loan from China for the next decade, at a cost of $1 million a year. The zoo’s plans for conservation research, as well as details of the deal with the China Wildlife Conservation Alliance and specifics on panda habitat renovations, are laid out in newly released documents.
But before China can send pandas Yun Chuan and Xin Bao to San Diego, the zoo has to secure an import permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which regulates the movement of animals protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Zoo officials have repeatedly declined requests to share details about their panda preparations. However, the zoo’s 168-page permit application offers a glimpse into the pending arrival. It outlines in broad strokes the zoo’s proposed conservation research, which seeks to help captive pandas as well as those in the wild. It also includes financial and animal-care details — things like how much insurance will cover the pandas’ stay, who will accompany the pair on the long trip from China, and how long any cubs born in the U.S. might be able to stay.
And it reveals words the zoo and Chinese wildlife officials agreed to use — and not use — when talking about their arrangements.
San Diego last hosted the beloved black-and-white bears in 2019. When the previous loan came to an end, zoo visitors bade farewell to Xiao Liwu and his mother, Bai Yun.
Pandas first came to the San Diego Zoo in 1987 under an exhibition loan. They returned in 1996 under a conservation agreement focused on improving panda reproduction. The zoo’s program was very successful, producing six cubs, and its scientists helped develop techniques credited with keeping young pandas alive.
Hopes for a new panda loan took shape late last year after Chinese President Xi Jinping told San Francisco business leaders in November that California would get pandas in 2024 — and mentioned San Diego by name. That speech was delivered just days after the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., sent its three pandas back. China owns and leases all giant pandas in U.S. zoos.
Since then, China has entered into loan agreements not only with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance but with the San Francisco Zoo and the National Zoo, which announced Wednesday it expects to receive two pandas by the end of the year. Money paid under panda loans go toward China’s conservation efforts.
The terms of San Diego’s agreement became public as part of the zoo’s permit application. Among its provisions: It calls for the zoo to provide $1 million in death insurance per panda before they are transported from China, and an equal amount of coverage during the animals’ stay. If a panda dies while at the zoo, Chinese officials are to immediately be notified and will send experts to carry out a postmortem. Any cubs born in the U.S. will be sent back to China when they are 2 to 4 years old.
It also calls for a visiting Chinese scholar to stay in San Diego for six months — with a new one selected every three years — and says animal-care staff will make periodic visits here to check on the animals. The zoo will cover their travel and accommodations and pay the personnel $100 to $150 per day.
The agreement also covers language to be used when the zoo discusses the pandas in “publicity and public education.” Terms such as lease, rental, loan agreement or contract are not to be used. The preferred description is a “conservation cooperative agreement.”
As for money paid in exchange for the pandas? The agreement addresses that, too: “The ‘Conservation Cooperative Fund’ shall not be expressed as ‘rent,’ ‘lease fee’ and ‘loan exhibition fee,’ etc.”
One fan-favorite aspect of the previous panda loan — the live panda cam, which allowed people to follow the animals’ antics on the zoo website — may change a bit. The agreement limits use of the 24-hour surveillance footage.
“No live, real time streaming to the outside or similar activities shall be conducted; however, video footage or images that are first reviewed, edited when necessary, and approved by (the zoo) maybe be used for publicity and educational use,” the agreement said. Zoo officials did not respond to questions about the panda cam.
According to the zoo’s application, the pandas’ primary housing will be a combination of its original panda habitat, which was being remodeled to provide “a larger footprint” — plus a second, adjacent enclosure being renovated for panda use. Drawings indicated the buildings would be connected to allow animal transfers to be made.
The zoo told regulators the work was expected to be completed before the pandas arrived. It detailed several other enclosures as contingency plans.
It will have the capacity to house up to four bears.
After the zoo’s permit application was made public April 25, 10 individuals and groups submitted feedback during a public comment period, which closed last week. Most were supportive — the House of China International Cottage in Balboa Park said it “enthusiastically endorses” the application while the Association of Zoos and Aquariums called the proposed panda research crucial to the species.
Voicing opposition was Friends of Animals, which describes itself as a nonprofit international advocacy group. In an 11-page letter, the group criticized the zoo’s plans and said many of the zoo’s goals do not require “shipping vulnerable animals halfway around the world.”
“Keeping these pandas in artificial habitats cruelly limits their natural behavior and encourages people to pay money to gawk at them,” wrote an attorney for the group. “Lastly, by importing giant pandas into the United States, (Fish and Wildlife Service) and American zoos are allowing China to continue exploiting pandas for diplomatic and commercial gain.”
San Diego has collaborated with Chinese research partners on pandas for decades, and officials credit that partnership with helping bring the species back from the brink of extinction. During the last loan, scientists developed milk formula and other neonatal techniques that dramatically increased survival rates for nursery-reared cubs. Scientists also orchestrated the first successful artificial insemination of a giant panda outside of China.
With numbers climbing in the wild and in captivity, the species was downgraded from endangered to vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2016. But climate change, habitat fragmentation and population isolation continue to threaten the future of giant pandas. In its application, the zoo says its conservation plan is framed by a concept it called “One Health,” which recognizes the health of wildlife, people and the ecosystems they share are inextricably linked.
It is unclear how quickly the Fish and Wildlife Service will reach a decision on the import permit.
