Do any U.S. zoos have pandas?

The San Diego Zoo returned its pandas in 2019, and the last bear at the Memphis, Tennessee, zoo went home earlier this year. The departure of the National Zoo's bears would mean that the only giant pandas left in America are at the Atlanta Zoo — and that loan agreement expires late next year.



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The departure of the National Zoo's bears would mean that the only giant pandas left in America are at the Atlanta Zoo — and that loan agreement expires late next year. Wilder said the Chinese possibly could be trying to send a signal.

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The San Diego zoo returned its pandas in 2019, and the last bear at the Memphis, Tennessee, zoo went home earlier this year. The departure of the National Zoo's bears would mean that the only giant pandas left in America are at the Atlanta Zoo — and that loan agreement expires late next year.

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The US received its first pandas in 1972 after first lady Pat Nixon commented during a state function in China about her love for the animals. By 1984, panda diplomacy changed. The bears were no longer presented as gifts but instead were loaned for 10 years, a period that could be extended.

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The San Diego Zoo returned its pandas in 2019, and the last bear at the Memphis, Tennessee, zoo went home earlier this year. The departure of the National Zoo's bears would mean that the only giant pandas left in America are at the Atlanta Zoo — and that loan agreement expires late next year.

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Pandas are only native to China, so all pandas in American zoos are on loan from the Chinese government. Even those born on American soil are considered property of China.

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China is the only natural habitat of the giant pandas; and Beijing has used the animals since the 1950s as part of its panda diplomacy programme. China has gifted and loaned pandas to other countries, and also taken them back when relations soured! Beijing gifted its first panda, Ping Ping, to the USSR in 1957.

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All six of the pandas born at our zoo have returned to their homeland in China, where they continue to make us proud!

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Xiao Qi Ji and his parents—Mei Xiang and Tian Tian—will all be sent to China in early December, when the Smithsonian's current agreement with the Chinese government to house pandas at the zoo expires. China has long leveraged its monopoly on the world's panda population as an instrument of its foreign policy.

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The zoo claims that this is because of a three-year contract it has with the China Wildlife Conservation Association.

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Giant panda Xiao Qi Ji roams in his enclosure at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, Sept. 28, 2023. The San Diego Zoo returned its pandas in 2019, and the last bear at the Memphis, Tennessee, zoo went home earlier this year.

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MEMPHIS, Tennessee — It's official. On Wednesday, the Memphis Zoo announced their pandas will be heading back to China next year, ending a 20-year-long stay.

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American zoos do not actually own the pandas that we enjoy going to visit. China rents pandas out to the tune of $1 million a year. Zoos typically sign a 10-year contract, which means that at the end of that contract, a zoo will have spent $10 million renting one panda. And any cubs that are born while at the zoo?

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Where Else Can You See Pandas? Outside of China, there are currently 27 zoos located in 21 countries that have giant pandas. The countries that have pandas are: Australia (Adelaide Zoo)

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Panda diplomacy, in its current form, works like this: China loans pandas to a zoo in the United States or another country, and the zoo pays an annual fee — usually $500,000 to $1 million each — to keep the pandas for at least a few years.

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Zoo Atlanta has so far been very successful in this resource-intensive process. The giant pandas may be seen year-round at virtually any time of day. Because they are native to high-elevation cool mountain forests, in the warmer months they will generally be in their climate-controlled dayroom habitats.

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The Zoo's status as an oasis for giant pandas finally came to an end in 2019, when it bid farewell to its last two giant pandas: Bai Yun and Xiao Liwu. This represented the end of the loan program, which had already been extended several times.

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The National Zoo's three giant pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji — are set to return to China in early December with no public signs that the 50-year-old exchange agreement struck by President Richard Nixon will continue.

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Point Defiance Zoo has been a home to polar bears for more than 80 years and, along with the Detroit Zoo, is certified by Polar Bears International as an Arctic Ambassador Center. Blizzard, Point Defiance Zoo's last remaining polar bear, was diagnosed with liver cancer and humanely euthanized in May 2022.

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Mexico's last giant panda, Xin Xin, lounges in her habitat at the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City. Xin Xin is the granddaughter of two pandas given to Mexico as a gift in 1975. Today, she's the only panda in Latin America and among the last in the world that doesn't belong to China.

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The reason is because China leases the each panda to zoos for $2 million (in panda cost and research). And then there are the habitats the zoos must build, plus the expensive diets they have - oh, and if there's a baby, that's another $600,000 per year.

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