Here come the pandas: San Diego Zoo to receive first pair to enter US in 21 years

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Two giant pandas are headed to the San Diego Zoo from China, marking the first pair to enter the country in 21 years, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

A farewell ceremony was held Wednesday at the China Conservation & Research Center for Giant Pandas in Sichuan province. Among those in attendance were San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, along with Wildlife Alliance President and CEO Paul Baribaul.

To celebrate the occasion, there were cultural performances, video salutations from Chinese and American students, as well as a gift exchange among conservation partners.

The panda pair — Yun Chuan and Xin Bao — will now be making the voyage to San Diego after diplomacy reignited earlier this year between the two nations in regard to the species. Yun Chuan, a nearly five-year-old male, is the son of Zhen Zhen, who was born at San Diego Zoo in 2007.

“We are incredibly excited to welcome Yun Chuan and Xin Bao to the San Diego Zoo,” said 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.”

Back in May, the San Diego Zoo laid out plans for the pandas in an application filed ahead of their set arrival. Officials said their agreement with Chinese partners will last 10 years and carries strict instructions governing their care.

The application also detailed some of the research and conservation activities the zoo’s wildlife teams hope to engage in throughout the duration of the panda bears’ stay in San Diego. This includes work on issues of panda health, well-being and reproductive output building on previous breeding work — efforts that helped supplemented the population enough for the species to be downgraded from “Endangered” to “Vulnerable” in 2021.

Zoo officials said they also hope to focus on research areas that could further aid the recovery of giant panda populations, such as human-wildlife coexistence, climate change impact mitigation and how technology can be leveraged to protect pandas and the health of their native habitats.

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, explained Megan Owen, vice president of Wildlife Conservation Science for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

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 said they it will share a debut date and specific information about how to see the beloved pandas.

FOX 5’s Danielle Dawson contributed to this report.

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