Lower Park Way used to be one of the San Diego Zoo's busiest areas, usually filled with long lines of guests waiting for their turn to see chomping or napping black-and-white bears.
The area hasn't had the same appeal, however, since China took back their giant pandas that were on loan as part of a bi-national agreement.
That could soon change, but only if San Diego is selected as the recipient of some diplomatic goodwill that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi promised would happen by the end of the year: Plans are underway to send the beloved bears back to the U.S., specifically California.
Wang made the announcement at a banquet celebrating the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China, which the pandas have been the mascot for since the early '70s.
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The question, though, remains: Where in California?
San Diego is an obvious choice: The zoo was home to the pandas for decades until a loan agreement ended and Bai-Yun and her son, Xiao Liwu went west. The world-famous zoo was one of only a handful in the U.S. where the bears could be seen. During that time, the China-U.S. conservation program helped to boost the wild population of pandas in China to more than 2,000, according to the zoo.
On the other hand, here's where the pandas WEREN'T: San Francisco.
Nevertheless, San Francisco's mayor has entered the chat. Mayor London Breed wrote a letter to China's leaders asking them to consider the San Francisco Zoo as a temporary home for the popular animals. Breed first made the suggestion to China President Xi Jinping during the APEC Summit in San Francisco in November after hearing him talk about restarting so-called Panda diplomacy.
"To grow our friendship, to greatly benefit our youth, and to continue our joint efforts on panda conservation, I propose, as I did on the runway when bidding you farewell, that we establish a partnership in which our San Francisco Zoo will host your cherished diplomats — giant pandas," the letter read. "San Francisco does not simply stand ready; we stand with both confidence and excitement that we can be great partners in panda conservation and, more importantly, in the effort to continue improving and enhancing relations between the Chinese and American people."
That pretty powerful plea from San Francisco was sent on Dec. 1, 2023, and it appears the idea is being realistically considered.
"We had some high level experts visit San Francisco at the end of last year to look over the zoo and to determine location and whether or not San Francisco could potentially host it and it's clear we can," Breed told NBC Bay Area.
So does this hinder the San Diego Zoo's chances for hosting the native Chinese bear by the end of the year? And has the city of San Diego made any similar push to regain the giant pandas?
If San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria's office made the same overtures, they're not talking. Asked about any communications with China regarding pandas, the office declined to comment.
The San Diego Zoo, on the other hand, released the same written statement it did in November, when Xi first announced the country was willing to send new pandas to the U.S. and even mentioned he had learned the San Diego Zoo and people in California “very much look forward to welcoming pandas back.”
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"We are excited to hear of President Xi’s commitment in continuing the giant panda conservation efforts between our two countries, and his attention to the wish of Californians and the San Diego Zoo to see the return of giant pandas,” said Paul A. Baribault, president and CEO of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. “Conservation starts with people, and our team is committed to working with our partners to welcome the next generation of giant pandas to our zoo, continuing our joint efforts in wildlife conservation, and inspiring millions worldwide to protect the planet we all share.”
Despite the San Diego Zoo returning its pandas in 2019, the park has kept the enclosure space on-site and still features signage reflecting that many of the bears once made their it their home. After 23 years away from her home country, beloved San Diego former residents Bai Yun and Xiao Liwu arrived back in China in May 2019.
The bears have long been the symbol of the U.S.-China friendship since Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington in 1972, ahead of the normalization of bilateral relations. Later, Beijing loaned pandas to other U.S. zoos, with proceeds going back to panda conservation programs.
The giant pandas in Memphis, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C., returned to China last year — and the contract for the last remaining pandas in the U.S., at the Atlanta Zoo, is set to expire in 2024.
