With diplomatic tensions running high between Beijing and a number of Western governments, China appears to be gradually pulling back its pandas from multiple Western zoos as their agreements expire.
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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.
Pandas are a threatened species, still just one step away from the classification of endangered. But along with China's growing efforts to protect a massive area of forested land, captive breeding has, for now, managed to avert their extinction.
China began to offer pandas to other nations only on ten-year lease. The standard lease terms include a fee of up to US$1 million per year and a provision that any cubs born during the lease period be the property of the People's Republic of China.
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?
With diplomatic tensions running high between Beijing and a number of Western governments, China appears to be gradually pulling back its pandas from multiple Western zoos as their agreements expire.
The pandas return to China when they reach old age and any cubs born are sent to China around age 3 or 4. The San Diego zoo returned its pandas in 2019, and the last bear at the Memphis, Tennessee, zoo went home earlier this year.
The pandas are treated as much like wild animals as possible. This is foremost a research unit, the workplace for resident Chinese and international scientists, and you can watch a documentary about their breeding projects.
The Chinese government, which gifted the first pair of pandas — Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling — to the U.S., now leases the pandas out for a typical 10-year renewable term. The annual fee ranges from $1 million to $2 million per pair, plus mandatory costs to build and maintain facilities to house the animals.
With the three pandas at the National Zoo returning to their homeland, only four giant pandas will be left in the U.S. The Atlanta Zoo has four giant pandas – Lun Lun and Yang Yang, and their offspring Ya Lun and Xi Lun.
For starters, per panda, zoos have to pay an annual rental fee to China that could be $1 million a year. Then, it costs an extra $400,000 if any cubs are born (and they must be returned–though not immediately). In addition, just the enclosure could run $8 million.
Lease policyChina began to offer pandas to other nations only on ten-year lease. The standard lease terms include a fee of up to US$1 million per year and a provision that any cubs born during the lease period be the property of the People's Republic of China.
Before the 1980s China gifted pandas, but today they are offered strictly on a loan basis. They are usually leased to the host country for roughly $1 million a year, plus the cost of building a panda facility. The leasing fees are said to cover the costs of giant panda “conservation” efforts in China.