China Reportedly Will Lend Pair of Pandas to National Zoo

The Chinese government has agreed to lend a pair of rare giant pandas to the National Zoo for 10 years, sources said Monday, raising hopes that the popular Panda House will be occupied once more and that cubs might again be born there.

Two top zoo officials returned from China on Sunday after both sides signed a letter of intent on the arrangements. But sources said there still are hurdles to surmount and that it could be a year or more before pandas arrive in Washington. The zoo must obtain a U.S. import permit, renovate the panda quarters, settle on which animals will be brought here and finalize details of a required research and conservation plan for the endangered creatures.

In exchange for getting a black-and-white panda pair, zoo officials have agreed to pay China hundreds of thousands of dollars a year; other zoos are paying $1 million a year. The zoo also agreed that its scientists would provide extensive help toward saving pandas in the wild. The National Zoo has been hoping for pandas to replace Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, the adored animals who were the institution’s most popular exhibit.

A gift to the United States by China in 1972, the pair had five cubs, none of which lived more than a few days. Ling-Ling died in 1992. Hsing-Hsing, suffering from terminal kidney disease, was euthanized last year.

Zoo officials have scheduled a news conference Tuesday morning at which Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence M. Small is expected to outline the agreement with the Chinese government.

Small said last week that whenever pandas are exhibited in a zoo, they “instantly attract an enormous amount of public attention. I can’t say with any real expertise why it is they do that, other than the fact that they are so cute and cuddly.”

Giant pandas are so rare that there are only about 125 in zoos around the world and an estimated 1,000 in the mountains of China.