San Francisco Mayor London Breed, D, announced on Friday, April 19, that San Francisco is getting two giant pandas from China. Currently, there are only four Chinese panda bears in the U.S. Each panda is currently located at Atlanta’s zoo but they are set to return to China later this year.
“San Francisco is absolutely thrilled to be welcoming giant pandas to the San Francisco Zoo,” Breed said.
China’s panda diplomacy program allows China to lease pandas to other countries as a symbol of friendship and goodwill to strengthen diplomatic relations with those countries and work together on conservation efforts.
“San Francisco is an international destination and the gateway to the Asia Pacific,” Breed said. “Having pandas here will strengthen our already deep cultural connections with our Chinese and API communities who are at the core of the fabric of who we are as a city.”
The United States received the first pair of pandas from China in 1972 under the Nixon administration, and they lived at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Over the years, several U.S. zoos have also received diplomacy pandas, including San Diego, Memphis and Atlanta.
On a few occasions, the leased pandas have been sent back to China as the Chinese did not extend the lease, a move that has corresponded to deteriorating diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China.
In November 2023, the pandas living at the National Zoo were sent back to China.
President Biden spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November 2023. Xi told Biden that China would be lending pandas to the U.S. once again “to strengthen relations between our two peoples.”
San Diego’s Zoo broke the news in February of this year that it was receiving a pair of pandas — marking the first time in over two decades that China agreed to send the bears to the United States.
Now, San Francisco Zoo will also receive two pandas in 2025 as Washington and Beijing work to ease escalating tensions in their diplomatic exchanges.
