Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Panda leaves D.C. zoo, heads to China
WASHINGTON — A specially equipped Boeing 777 jet took off from Dulles International Airport on Tuesday carrying a true Washington celebrity: Bei Bei, a 4-year-old giant panda.
Visitors to Washington’s National Zoo have watched him grow up since his birth. Now he’s headed to China.
Under terms of the zoo’s agreement with the Chinese government, any panda born here must be sent to China when they reach age 4. When he reaches sexual maturity after age 6, Bei Bei will be entered into China’s government-run breeding program, seeking to expand the vulnerable panda population.
Bei Bei is the third giant panda to have been born at the zoo and moved to China. Tai Shan moved in 2010, and Bao Bao moved in 2017.
Bei Bei was born at the zoo on Aug. 22, 2015, the cub (via artificial insemination) of National Zoo pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian. His name, which translates as “treasure” or “precious” in Mandarin,
was jointly selected by former first lady Michelle Obama and Peng Liyuan, the first lady of the People’s Republic of China.
Zoo Director Steve Monfort called the occasion “bittersweet.” He said zoo staff and visitors had grown to love the bear but that his return was important to the future of the species.
“Our team has cared for him, learned from him and, along with millions, loved watching him grow,” Monfort said. “We’re sad he’s leaving, but excited for the contributions he will make to the global giant panda population.”
A week of events marked Bei Bei’s departure. Visitors over the weekend were served dumplings, courtesy of the Chinese Embassy. In turn, they wrote postcards and made friendship bracelets for the panda.
Bei Bei got treats, too, including ice cakes filled with frozen juice, sweet potato and sugar cane.
Over the last week, the zoo put up messages on its social media accounts that read like a walk down memory lane of Bei Bei’s four years at the facility, using the hashtag #ByeByeBeiBei. It has shared the first ultrasound showing the panda and images of the cub playing in the snow at his enclosure.
There have also been some reminders of how cute and entertaining Bei Bei has been. One video from the panda cam at his exhibit showed Bei Bei doing two of his favorite things: climbing and tumbling.
The zoo also encouraged panda fans to make a mix tape of music that the panda might want to listen to on his long flight to China.
Over the weekend, zoo officials said they saw an uptick in visitors, with more than 12,700 coming Saturday and Sunday, compared with 5,500 during the same weekend in 2018. Some visitors this weekend came from Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida, New York and New Jersey, according to zoo officials.
The giant panda was once classified as an endangered species. Efforts to save the animal have been successful enough that the International Union for Conservation of Nature changed their status from “endangered” to “vulnerable” in 2016.
There are an estimated 1,800 giant pandas in the wild, all of them in southwestern China.