The loss of a good friend

When my wife and I lived in Northern Virginia, we didn’t have a lot of money. We were just starting our careers and pinching our pennies, keeping nights out to a minimum. After a long week of work, we would take the Metro into Washington, D.C. and visit the Smithsonian Institute’s National Zoo or one of the various museums. The Smithsonian had two big calling cards: we could relax and spend hours enjoying ourselves and the cost was free.

We loved it so much that one of our favorite weekend activities was to walk leisurely down the pathways of the National Zoo, visiting the giraffes and elephants. We inevitably would end up in one of our favorite spots in the zoo, looking out over giant panda Ling Ling.

Ling Ling’s picture was scattered across the zoo. We couldn’t always catch Ling Ling eating a bamboo shoot or rolling in the grass, but getting a glimpse of her was always a highlight of our visit. It wasn’t in the wild and we couldn’t open the gates and let her roam free as she wanted, but it was the next best thing. She became an old friend and we couldn’t leave without visiting her and saying “hi.”

Photo by Cyrill Bambilla by Pexels.

The end of an era

China gave Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, the Zoo’s first pair of giant pandas, as a gift in 1972 to commemorate President Nixon’s visit to China. During their 20 years together at the National Zoo, the pandas produced five cubs. Tragically, however, none of the cubs survived.

It was with sadness than that I read on Wednesday that The National Zoo’s Panda Program is ending after more than 50 years and the zoo’s three giant pandas — Mei Xiang, 25, a female; Tian Tian, 26, a male; and their son, Xiao Qi Ji, 3 — were taken from the zoo on and were shipped back to China.

China owns and leases all giant pandas in U.S. The National Zoo’s current lease was to expire on Dec. 7. In the past four years, pandas in other U.S. zoos have made similar return journeys to China. With Washington’s pandas now gone, there will only be four remaining in the U.S. and they’re scheduled to return to China next year.

At the height of the China partnership, there were 15 pandas in the U.S. Experts believe China’s decision not to renew or sign new leases with U.S. zoos is a reflection of the current tensions between the two countries.

Photo by Kirandeep Singh Walia by Pexels.

Hope for the future

The pandas leaving America will head to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, where in recent years conservation efforts have proven successful. Pandas are no longer on the endangered species list, and their population has jumped nearly 17% over the past decade.

Who knows what will happen between China and U.S, but here’s hoping both countries put politics aside and remember the joy that several giant pandas brought to so many people.

I know my wife and I we’re grateful for one “little” giant panda that brought us together.