In 2024, for the first time in over 50 years, there was a brief period during which no pandas could be found at any zoos in the United States. Due in part to the high diplomatic tensions between Beijing and several Western governments, China appeared to be gradually pulling back its pandas from multiple Western zoos as their loan agreements at zoos throughout the country expired. Dennis Wilder, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues, called the panda-return trend “punitive panda diplomacy,” noting the recent string of U.S. zoos that had lost their pandas in the last few years to their native China, while zoos in Scotland and Australia were facing similar departures with no signs of their loan agreements being renewed.
The San Diego Zoo returned their last remaining pandas, Yun Chuan and her mother, Zhen Zhen, in 2019; the last panda at the Memphis Zoo, Ya Ya, was returned in 2023; the last remaining pandas at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, Xiang, Tian Tian, and their cub Xiao Qi Ji, were all returned in November of 2023; and the four remaining pandas at Zoo Atlanta, including parents Lun Lun and Yang Yang and their two youngest offspring, Ya Lun and Xi Lun, were returned to China in October of 2024.
The Global “Panda-monium” of Panda Trade Agreements With China
In 2023, Beijing lent out a total of 65 pandas to 19 countries through “cooperative research programs” with a stated mission to “better protect” the vulnerable bear species in the wild. The agreement mandated that, as the property of the Chinese government, pandas must be returned to China when they reach ten years of age and any cubs born outside of China would be sent back after they reach two years of age. China loans out pandas to zoos in other countries that wish to display them—but only if the price is right. Despite restrictions that prevent pandas from being internationally traded for commercial reasons in attempts to protect their population status in the wild, including a U.S. Fish & Wildlife ban and a CITES Appendix I listing, which prohibits all international trade except for scientific purposes, demand from zoos to put pandas on display and the corresponding profit to be gained from zoo visitors urges officials to make exceptions to these rules.
The San Diego Zoo became the first zoo in 1996 to participate in an agreement that later became the model for all future panda loans from China: they received a pair of pandas on a 12-year “research loan,” at the cost of $1 million USD per year. Currently, the agreement states that 70% of the annual $1 million USD fee allegedly goes towards giant panda conservation, but foreigners have no say over where or how this money is spent, nor are they informed of the destination or impact of their financial contributions.
Panda Captivity Does Not Aid in Species Conservation
The captive keeping and breeding of pandas, however, realistically has very little to do with the conservation—or the wellbeing—of pandas at all. In fact, according to Ron Swaisgood, who chairs the IUCN’s Giant Panda Expert Team, “It is generally the case that zoos lose money on pandas. The costs of leasing, feeding, housing, and handling pandas typically exceed the revenues they bring in, and the economics are similar around the world.” Therefore, keeping pandas in lifelong captivity does not benefit, and likely even undermines, wild panda conservation efforts.
Giant pandas’ naturally slow breeding rate prevents wild populations from recovering quickly from main threats to their survival, including illegal hunting, habitat loss, resource depletion, and other human-related causes of mortality. Therefore, conservation efforts with wild populations in their natural habitat aimed at reducing these primary threats remain crucial to improving panda population status in the wild; not breeding pandas in captivity and sending them overseas to be showcased in other zoos around the world, most of whom will never be released back into the wild successfully. As few as 1,864 giant pandas remain in their native habitat, while another 600 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers around the world.
Pandas Have Been Turned into a Commodity
Unfortunately, the San Diego Zoo was the first U.S. zoo to receive new pandas from China in 2024 after the U.S. had been panda-free for less than one year. The giant panda pair, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, made their public debut on August 8, 2024. This was the first time pandas had entered the United States in 21 years. As of January 2025, the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., was next to acquire two more giant pandas since 2023: Bao Li and Qing Bao.
Sadly, for China and zoos around the world, the only perceivable value pandas seem to offer is economic. Their intrinsic value has been erased by the trading of their ability to choose to live a natural life in exchange for human entertainment and gaining political standing. The devastation already done to wild pandas, however, has the potential to be permanent unless we can all agree that zoos accepting pandas in this exploitative fashion does more harm than good. In the name of “education,” a false purpose that zoos most devoutly cling to, the best thing we can do for future generations is to teach them that this is not the way to view or treat wild animals. As such, we urge all zoos in the U.S. to end their agreements with China to stop the import and suffering of giant pandas for good.
Read our blog from 2023 exploring the exploitation of pandas in captivity.
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Devan
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