The Washington Post-The National Zoos giant pandas leave for China today
November 8, 2023 5 min 986 words
这则报道宣告了华盛顿国家动物园的大熊猫家族即将回到中国，结束了长达半个世纪的时代。这对华盛顿地区的人们来说是一次感情的告别，因为这些大熊猫一直是该地区的象征。他们不仅仅是动物，还是华盛顿的一部分，出现在各种物品和文化中，拥有无数忠实的粉丝。 然而，这也标志着美国国家动物园将不再有大熊猫。虽然这一离别让人感到悲伤，但它也引发了对大熊猫在动物园的长期存在和保护工作的反思。现在，人们需要思考未来是否会有机会再次在国家动物园看到这些珍贵的动物。这个问题牵涉到国际间的谈判和保护工作，需要各方共同努力。 希望美国国家动物园在未来继续与中国展开合作，为大熊猫的保护提供更多机会，同时也保留了一个重要的动物研究项目。这个别具一格的大熊猫计划已经建立了深厚的科学合作关系，希望这一合作将继续，以促进这一濒危物种的保护。
2023-11-01T17:08:27.290Z
The National Zoo’s giant pandas will board a flight to China on Wednesday, ending an era that spanned half a century, brought joy to generations of fans and left an enduring black-and-white imprint on the Washington region.
Mei Xiang, 25, a female; Tian Tian, 26, a male; and their son, Xiao Qi Ji, 3, are being loaded into three large shipping crates on Wednesday morning, to be placed on a truck bound for Dulles International Airport and a 19-hour, 9,000-mile journey on a FedEx cargo jet to Chengdu, China.
Details of the departure were not released earlier for security reasons, the zoo said. The zoo is closed Wednesday morning until 10 a.m., after the pandas have left.
It is the fourth departure of members of the zoo’s giant panda family for China. But before this journey, there have always been giant pandas who stayed behind when the others left.
Soon, their compound at the zoo in Northwest Washington will be empty, and the joyous decades of pandamania will be over, at least for the time being.
The bears had become symbols of Washington, alongside the White House and the Capitol.
Their images appeared on buses, Metro cards, sneakers, shirts, slippers, pajamas, onesies, mugs, water bottles, totes, scarves, scrunchies and hats. They had legions of passionate followers.
In 2001, composer Julius P. Williams wrote an orchestral piece for them, “March of the Giant Pandas.”
“It is going to be emotional,” veteran giant panda keeper Nicole MacCorkle said in a recent interview. “To have had them here for almost 23 years, and to interact with them almost daily, it certainly is going to be a change. It’s going to be life-changing for us that had been working with them.”
She added: “But we knew that this day would come. It’ll take us a while, but life will go on here at the zoo. It’ll be a void that all of us will feel, and I think all of Washington’s going to feel.”
China owns and leases all giant pandas in U.S. zoos. The National Zoo’s current lease expires on Dec. 7.
Mei Xiang and Tian Tian were born in China. They came to the zoo as youngsters, arriving on Dec. 6, 2000, as part of a lease agreement. Xiao Qi Ji was born at the zoo on Aug. 21, 2020.
The staff at the Smithsonian facility has been preparing for the departure for months. Two keepers and one veterinarian are also making the trip, along with more than 300 pounds of bamboo for panda snacks.
The animals have been acclimated to the traveling crates, zoo officials said. And keepers do not expect the pandas to be distressed during the flight.
Members of the zoo staff, however, have expressed heartache over the loss. Several keepers have cared for the giant pandas for many years.
Laurie Thompson, the zoo’s longest-serving giant panda keeper, was present when Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived 23 years ago. She is scheduled to go along on the trip to ease the journey. “We’re mostly there to keep them happy,” she said.
“It’s definitely a hard time,” Bob Lee, the zoo’s director of animal care sciences, said last month. “These animals are like family to us and the folks that come here.”
“I almost can’t let myself think about how I will feel when these animals are gone — Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, who I’ve known for 15 years, and their cubs,” zoo director Brandie Smith, a former giant panda keeper, said last month. “It’s the end of an era for us.”
The zoo’s giant panda story began in February 1972, when President Richard M. Nixon and first lady Pat Nixon made a historic Cold War visit to communist China.
At a banquet in Beijing, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai promised Mrs. Nixon that China would give some giant pandas to the United States as a friendly gesture.
Later that year, giant pandas Ling-Ling, a female, and Hsing-Hsing, a male, both about 18 months old, arrived at the zoo.
Ling-Ling died suddenly in 1992, and an ailing Hsing-Hsing was euthanized in November 1999.
The zoo was then without giant pandas until December 2000 — a gap of just over a year.
Aside from Xiao Qi Ji, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian produced three surviving cubs.
A male, Tai Shan, was born in 2005 and sent to China in 2010. A female, Bao Bao, was born in 2013 and sent to China in 2017. A male, Bei Bei, was born in 2015 and sent to China in 2019.
It is not clear when, or if, the zoo will get giant pandas again. The zoo in San Diego sent its giant pandas to China four years ago. They have not been replaced.
Smith, the National Zoo’s director, said last month that while the zoo is interested in having more giant pandas and would like its program to continue for another 50 years, no official discussions with China have taken place.
“The National Zoo is unique” in the giant panda research it has done and the relationships it has built with scientists in China, she said. “No other zoo in the world has the kind of program that we have.”
She said there’s “optimism” at the zoo that pandas will one day return, which is manifesting in upgrades the zoo is making to its panda habitat. “Because we are hopeful,” she said, “that we’ll have pandas here in the future.”