Mayor, Zoo Staff Join Chinese Officials in Sendoff for Panda Pair Headed to San Diego

A group of Americans, including San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and representatives from the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, joined farewell ceremonies in China for two giant pandas headed to San Diego Thursday.

The ceremony Wednesday commemorating the departure of pandas Yun Chuan (pronounced yoon chu-an) and Xin Bao (pronounced sing bow) was also attended by U.S. and Chinese dignitaries. It included cultural performances, video salutations from Chinese and American students and a gift exchange among conservation partners.

Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, the first pandas to enter the United States in 21 years, will travel to the San Diego Zoo soon after the farewell ceremony. After the pandas have safely arrived in San Diego, they will not be viewable to the public for several weeks while they acclimate to their new home, a statement from the Wildlife Alliance read.

As soon as wildlife health and care teams confirm Yun Chuan and Xin Bao are ready to meet the public, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance will share a debut date and specific information about how to see the pandas.

“We are incredibly excited to welcome Yun Chuan and Xin Bao to the San Diego Zoo,” said San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance President and CEO Paul Baribault. “This farewell celebrates their journey and underscores a collaboration between the United States and China on vital conservation efforts. 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.”

San Diego Zoo was the first zoo in the United States to have a cooperative panda conservation program.

According to a Wildlife Alliance statement, Yun Chuan is nearly 5 years old and is described as mild-mannered, gentle and lovable. He is the son of Zhen Zhen (pronounced jen jen), who was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007 to parents Bai Yun (pronounced bye yoon) and Gao Gao (pronounced gow gow). The first character of his name, “Yun,” is a nod to his grandmother Bai Yun, who lived at the San Diego Zoo for 23 years.

Xin Bao is a nearly 4-year-old female and is described as a “gentle and witty introvert with a sweet round face and big ears,” a zoo statement reads. Her name means a “new treasure of prosperity and abundance.”

The conservation collaboration between San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and China Wildlife Conservation Association “aims to improve giant panda population health and resilience in some of the smallest and most isolated populations vulnerable to extinction and loss of genetic diversity,” according to a statement from the zoo.

China recalled almost all of its pandas who were on loan to zoos in the United States around five years ago after relations between the two countries soured. Cooperation between China and the United States has led to the possibility of pandas returning to zoos, including the San Diego Zoo.

“The return to San Diego of giant pandas is a testament to the nearly 30-year partnership the San Diego Zoo and Wildlife Alliance forged with China to successfully protect these magnificent creatures,” Gloria said in February, when a deal between China and the United States first made news. “I’m pleased this positive relationship and our advocacy have resulted in this major announcement. San Diegans look forward to welcoming the pandas back to America’s Finest City.”

There is typically a $1 million per year fee paid by the zoos for two pandas and the money is used for China’s conservation efforts, according to a 2022 report by America’s Congressional Research Service.

China first gifted the U.S. with pandas in 1972, when two were sent to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Part of the goal in loaning pandas to zoos in the United States was to help breed cubs and boost the population.

Conservation efforts have saved the giant pandas from extinction by increasing the population from fewer than 1,000 to more than 1,800 in the wild and captivity, causing the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List to downgrade the giant panda from Endangered to Vulnerable in 2021.

–City News Service