Surprise! Giant pandas may return to San Diego

Stay tuned. The San Diego Zoo’s Panda Cam might be coming back for a new season.

Giant pandas — the hugely popular beloved symbols of China which haven’t been here since 2019 — could be headed back to San Diego. That bit of news came in a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday night after he met with President Joe Biden in San Francisco, and the leaders pledged to reduce tensions.

Xi signaled that pandas — which he called “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples” — could be sent to a zoo in California. He did not share any details on when such a transfer might occur.

“We are ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation, and do our best to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen the friendly ties between our two peoples,” Xi said during a dinner speech with business leaders. He said he learned the San Diego Zoo and people in California “very much look forward to welcoming pandas back.”

The announcement by China’s leader was a welcomed surprise to zoo officials.

“We are excited to hear of President Xi’s commitment in continuing the giant panda conservation efforts between our two countries, and his attention to the wish of Californians and the San Diego Zoo to see the return of giant pandas,” Paul Baribault, president and CEO of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, said in a statement.

President Joe Biden greets China’s President President Xi Jinping at the Filoli Estate in Woodside, Calif., on Nov, 15, 2023.

(Doug Mills / Associated Press)

“Conservation starts with people, and our team is committed to working with our partners to welcome the next generation of giant pandas to our zoo, continuing our joint efforts in wildlife conservation, and inspiring millions worldwide to protect the planet we all share.”

The development came just days after the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s three giant pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji — left Washington for China. With their departure, only four pandas are left in the U.S., all at the Atlanta Zoo. That loan is set to expire in late 2024, which would send those pandas back to China, too, the zoo has said.

San Diego Zoo officials had little to share about the development. There’s no agreement, no timeline — it’s much too early for any of that. “We will continue to engage with our Chinese partners,” a spokesperson said.

If giant pandas return, zoo officials may have to shuffle some animals around to accommodate them. Their habitat is now home to several red pandas.

San Diego has a long history with pandas — and if history is a guide, a return of the roly poly black-and-white animals would prove to be very popular.

This would be the third time China has loaned giant pandas to the San Diego Zoo — first in 1987 for a six-month period when Basi and Yuan Yuan were sent. A record 3.8 million people visited the zoo that year.

Then in 1996, two more pandas, Bai Yun and Shi Shi, came as part of a breeding loan under a panda research program. Bai Yun and Shi Shi produced a cub, Hua Mei, who became a worldwide celebrity as millions tuned into the zoo’s “panda cam” to watch her grow. She was the first American-born panda to survive into adulthood and was relocated to the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center in China in 2004. Shi Shi was replaced by Gao Gao in 2003, and he fathered five more cubs in San Diego.

Zoo guests have left well wishes for pandas Bai Yun, 27, and her son, Xiao Liwu, 6, at the San Diego Zoo’s Giant Panda Friendship Wall on April 16, 2019.

(K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

San Diego’s obsession with pandas was enough to warrant a story line in the 2004 film “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” starring Will Ferrell. For days, the fictional San Diego television newscast was on “Panda Watch,” breathlessly awaiting the birth of a panda at the zoo.

Other U.S. zoos also have had pandas. The National Zoo received its first pandas from the Chinese in 1972 — Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing — after President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China. Ling Ling had five cubs but none survived. In 2000, the National Zoo received two more pandas, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, under a 10-year cooperative research and breeding agreement which was subsequently renewed three times. Mei Xiang gave birth to seven cubs, four that survived.

National Zoo officials plan to continue their research and conservation work in China and hope to have giant pandas at the zoo in the future, a spokesperson said.

Giant pandas were on the endangered species list for more than 25 years, but in 2017, the International Union for Conservation of Nature downgraded their status from “endangered” to “vulnerable” on its global list of species at risk of extinction after the number of pandas in the wild increased after years of decline. There are an estimated 1,800 in the wild, according to the National Zoo.

Xiao Liwu, one of the two giant pandas at the San Diego Zoo enjoys breakfast in 2019.

(Howard Lipin/The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Dan Ashe, the president and CEO of the nonprofit Association of Zoos and Aquariums, said this week’s development was good news on many fronts— not only for zoo visitors who enjoy seeing pandas, but for relations between the two countries. China’s practice of giving or loaning pandas to other countries has come to be known as “panda diplomacy.”

“Pandas in U.S. zoos reflect a positive, healthy relationship between our two countries,” he said. “And the work that has been done on conservation has been amazing — five decades of cooperation and unlike many species, pandas are doing better as a result of it. It is good all the way around.”

So San Diego is again on Panda Watch? Somebody call Ron Burgundy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.