Pandas’ lure irresistible, if short- lived, for U. S. zoos
The newborn twins, like other cubs, are likely to be moved to China in a few years.
WASHINGTON — Zookeepers call pandas their sexiest animals. They fawn over their inclination to make even laziness look so darned cute and covet their ability to draw thousands of visitors who buy plush toys and faux panda ears.
But even as excitement swelled over the birth of twin giant pandas at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington on Saturday, the cubs themselves are only temporary residents in the nation’s capital. Unlike humans born on U. S. territory, the pandas are not birthright citizens.
If they survive a tenuous period of infancy and reach sexual maturity in three or four years, there is a good chance the Chinese government will summon them home to breed.
China, which makes millions of dollars a year for its breeding programs by sending pandas to zoos around the world, controls their whereabouts. The bears’ popularity, the millions it costs to house and feed them, and the Chinese government’s ability to control their whereabouts make pandas one of themost complex animals for a zoo to keep.
“At the end of the day, it’s a huge business deal for China,” said Ron Magill, who has served for 36 years as the communications director for Zoo Miami, which does not have pandas.
The National Zoo and the three others that house pandas — San Diego, Memphis and Atlanta — say they do not make money keeping the animals that have become an icon of conservationists, though it is difficult to pinpoint how much their presence boosts overall attendance and donations.
Zoo Atlanta considered ending its panda program several years ago, before the Chinese government agreed to renegotiate its contract terms, dropping the price from more than $ 1 million a year to $ 575,000.
Zoos in San Diego, Washington and Memphis have negotiated similar terms in recent years. The payments are earmarked for Chinese government conservation programs. Attempts to reach Chinese government officials were unsuccessful.
“They’ve become a loss leader. Yes, they are expensive tomaintain and exhibit, but they are a tremendous draw,” said David Walsh, president of Zoo Advisors, who has consulted for more than 50 zoos, including Atlanta. “It does make economic sense, if you have the right market.”
The San Diego Zoo says it has spent more than $ 40 million maintaining giant pandas since 1996, plus $ 5.8 million on a giant panda exhibit. The maintenance costs include fees to China and other extraordinary expenses, including food, which can run tens of thousands of dollars a year.
“You have to grow bamboo. If you can’t grow bamboo you have to source bamboo from someplace,” said Jenny Mehlow, spokeswoman for the San Diego Zoo, which grows most of its bamboo and harvests some fromlocal producers, noting that pandas will reject it if it’s not fresh.
All four U. S. zoos that keep pandas say they believe they are good for their institutions and good for conservation missions, even if it is a little painful to see them flown back to China when they reach sexual maturity.
“We don’t have them as a money maker,” said Stephanie Braccini, the curator of mammals at Zoo Atlanta. “We have them as an opportunity tohave that conservation message and to help the overall population.”
The Atlanta zoo broke attendance records in the first full year it had pandas, 2000, drawing more than 1 million visitors. Attendance surged again, by 25%, in 2007 after the first cub, Mei Lan, was born. But two subsequent cubs did not affect attendance, said Rachel Davis, spokeswoman for Zoo Atlanta. And the bump after the birth of twins two years ago contributed to a modest 6% rise in attendance.
Admission to the National Zoo, part of the federally supported Smithsonian, is free. But the panda logo is everywhere on the park property, a major piece of the zoo’s fundraising and merchandising business. Mei Xiang’s suspected pregnancy had made headlines for weeks, and the surprise birth of twins Saturday stirred the panda frenzy.
The newest unnamed panda cubs, whose genders won’t be known for several weeks, are only the third set of twins born in the United States. The first set, also bornat the National Zoo, did not survive. The second set, born in Atlanta, did.
“It’s a very risky and challenging time,” said Pamela Baker- Masson, associate director of communications at the National Zoo. “The cubs are very vulnerable.”
Because Mei Xiang cannot care for both cubs at once, zookeepers are attempting to take care of one baby at a time, swapping them out every few hours so they get equal attention from their mother. But they are encountering trouble.
On Sunday night, Mei Xiang refused to give one of the cubs up, leaving the second cub in the hands of zoo staff for about eight hours. The cub would not take a bottle, and had to be fed from a tube, Baker- Masson said.
On Tuesday, the cub continued to require special care fromstaff, drawing concern over weight fluctuation and “signs of regurgitation,” which has prompted more tube feeding. Mei Xiang has been unwilling to give up the larger of the twins for long stretches to care for the smaller one.
Outside the panda exhibit, three signs hoisted on barricades informed visitors that the panda house was closed — but just the birth announcement drew a few visitors. It will be several months before the new cubs make a public appearance.
“I didn’t come to expect to see them,” said Alexis Whitted, a veterinarian not affiliated with the zoo who bought a stuffed panda. “I just wanted to be part of the environment because it’s a big event.”