Zoo Awaits Panda Pair Under Pact With China

The San Diego Zoo expects to receive a pair of giant pandas on loan from China later this year under an agreement reached this week by a delegation of zoo officials and Chinese authorities.

Zoo officials in San Diego received word of the agreement late Tuesday from their delegation in Hong Kong. They said it is not yet clear how many pandas will come and how long they will stay, but they expect to receive a pair.

The loan would make the San Diego Zoo the only West Coast zoo exhibiting the endangered pandas. Two were displayed in Los Angeles and San Francisco in 1984, but the only ones now in the United States are in Washington and New York City.

“Pandas are one of the most popular animals in the world,” said Georgeanne Irvine, a San Diego Zoo spokeswoman. “So this is a wonderful educational opportunity for the people of San Diego to see a fantastic animal.”

The pandas are expected to draw public attention to the plight of all endangered species--one of the zoo’s principal goals. Irvine acknowledged that they will also bring enormous publicity and new visitors to the world-renowned zoo.

“I would have to say it is definitely one of the most significant loans we have ever had,” Irvine said.

The San Diego Zoo has been entreating the Chinese for years to send pandas here. On March 31, a consultant serving as a go-between for the China Wildlife Conservation Assn. and the zoo indicated that the Chinese would be receptive to a new request.

Zoo officials immediately dispatched a written proposal, followed by a delegation of San Diego Zoological Society officials. Late Tuesday, acting zoo Director Fred Andrus received word from the delegation that the loan had been approved.

“The Chinese are very concerned about the pandas because they are endangered and they are very rare,” said Irvine, who added that there are only about 1,000 pandas remaining in the wild. “Perhaps they’re interested in educating the world about the plight of the pandas.”

She said the San Diego Zoo has had a long relationship with Chinese wildlife officials. Two years ago, the zoo received on loan a pair of Chinese golden monkeys and became the first zoo to display the rare species outside China.

Irvine said Wednesday it was unclear when the pandas would arrive and how much the zoo would pay for the loan. She said the Chinese use revenue from their panda loans to support efforts to preserve the species.

The first living panda exhibited in the United States arrived in 1937 at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago and died the next year, Irvine said. In 1972, Chinese officials gave two pandas to the United States after then-President Richard Nixon’s visit to China.

Those two, known as Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, are on exhibit at the National Zoo in Washington. Irvine said two other pandas on loan are on exhibit at the Bronx Zoo in New York.