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April 4, 2007: Oakland Zoo Prepares For Rare Pandas
January 28, 2006: Oakland Zoo Seeks Giant Pandas
January 14, 2006: Pandas would provide a giant bamboost
for zoo
April 12, 2005: Nonprofit starts panda pursuit with fund-raiser
December 2, 2004: Oakland Officials Join OCWP in Confirming
Panda Program for Bay Area
May 13, 2004: Pandas for zoo a step closer
March 2, 2000: Oakland May Get Panda Pair
Oakland Panda Project
Web Site (note that site is outdated, link will open in new window)
Oakland China Wildlife
Preservation Web Site (another outdated site, will open in new window)
April 4, 2007: Oakland Zoo Prepares
For Rare Pandas
Why Has It Taken Over 8 Years?
Apr. 4 - KGO - It's been at least eight years since city leaders first announced their plans to bring a rare giant panda exhibit to the Oakland Zoo. The arrival of a young male and female from China would make Oakland only the fifth American city to host such rare animals. But, they're still not here.
In May 2004, Oakland leaders announced a letter of agreement with China to bring a pair of rare giant pandas to the Oakland Zoo. It came after six years of lobbying.
Henry Chang, Oakland City Council: "The whole world -- everybody wants pandas, and they gave them to us."
Three years later, the area set aside for the pandas sits covered in plastic. Nearby, there are plenty of interesting creatures, some apparently eager for new neighbors, but no pandas.
Henry Chang, Oakland City Council: "You have to develop a friendship, and it takes a long time and trust."
Next week, Councilman Henry Chang will return to China to try to close a deal, he concedes it has taken longer than expected.
Councilman Henry Chang: "All of the delays, the so-called delays, is really on the U.S. side."
It hasn't helped, other American cities upset Chinese officials with their gaudy exhibits.
Councilman Henry Chang: "China is sometimes unhappy with the U.S. for spoiling the pandas too much -- like air conditioning the rocks for the pandas to get on so it's cool."
China doesn't want that in Oakland, which is a good thing for the city, dropping the original $7 million dollar estimate, to less than $2 million dollars.
Dr. Joel Parrott, Oakland Zoo Director: "It's actually more comparable to what we've spent on other projects here at the zoo."
The zoo must build the panda exhibit before seeking final permits from the American and Chinese governments. Construction is set to begin this summer. A bamboo farm will go in nearby.
Dr. Joel Parrott, Oakland Zoo Director: "They generally eat 30 pounds of bamboo, per panda, per day."
The zoo will also perform genetic research with U.C. Davis. Those involved in the process remain confident the zoo will be home to a pair of pandas soon. Perhaps as soon as next year.
Councilman Henry Chang: "Hopefully there will be a Chinese New Year's present from China."
From abc7news, Laura Anthony
Januray 28, 2006: Oakland Zoo Seeks
Giant Pandas
Oakland zoo optimistic about geting panda bear pair from China
Sitting up on round, rotund haunches, and legs straight out in front, looking so cuddly and innocent, Bai Yun and Shi Shi nonchalantly munch on long stalks of bamboo as if nothing else could possibly matter. They do not seem to be aware that perhaps millions of viewers worldwide can only see them by watching them via the Internet on Panda-cam, transmitting from two participating zoos in America. But soon, Bay Area residents may be able to see them in the flesh.
The Oakland City Zoo in California is optimistic about being the place that will receive a pair of giant pandas from China for research and display this year. Although a study developed by the Hausrath Economics Group proves that the gift makes great economic sense concerning zoo attendance, the transaction between the Beijing Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens and the Oakland Zoo is not yet a done deal.
The local zoo's Panda Project, with the help of the Oakland China Wildlife Preservation Foundation, has raised a lot of local support from financers and businesses. Time and materials, and even designs for the panda exhibit, are being enthusiastically donated and put into place. Oakland City Councilmember Henry Chang (At-Large) stated in an Inside Bay Area news article that about $1.2 million will be raised for the project.
Willie Yee, Chang's chief of staff, said that, "By the fall of this year, Oakland Zoo in Knowland Park will be all ready for the bears to come." Only four other U.S. zoos have pairs of giant pandas—San Diego, Memphis, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.
Giant pandas are among the rarest mammals in the world. They are endangered animals protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Flora and Fauna. The giant panda is considered in danger of extinction throughout a significant portion of its range of habitat. This protection also prohibits giant pandas from being imported into the U.S. except under certain conditions. Since 1987, China has imposed the death penalty for anyone convicted of killing a giant panda.
Of the roughly 1,600 remaining pandas in the world, more than 140 pandas live in captivity with 80 percent living in 6 small fragments of forest within a small isolated area in the southwestern province of Sichuan, China. These forests have lost more than half of the natural vegetation and no longer provide suitable habitat for the pandas.
Spokesperson for the San Diego Zoo, Yadira Galindo, explained that all zoos receiving pandas have two stipulations for the gift. "To receive pandas, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must first allow the loan from China, and secondly, an ongoing research project agreement between the zoo and China has to be in place before receiving them," she said.
With four pandas, the San Diego Zoo has the largest population of giant pandas outside of Mainland China. In an effort to lessen the decline of wild populations, the Zoo, working with the World Wildlife Fund, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the China Wildlife Conservation Association, and the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens, contributes more than $1 million each year to China. Part of this money is designated for projects of wild habitat protection.
From The Epoch Times, Merian Kiernan
January 14, 2006: Pandas would provide a giant bamboost for zoo
OAKLAND -- A pair of giant pandas at the Oakland Zoo could bring up to 1.3 million additional visitors to the facility over 10 years and increase visits from out-of-town tourists and members of the Asian community, a zoo market study released this week said.
The study, developed by the Hausrath Economics Group, said if a pair of giant pandas comes to Oakland, the zoo can expect a spike in attendance within the first few years and another spike should the pair have a baby.
"A giant panda would be a valuable addition to the Oakland Zoo and could make the zoo a regional attraction," the study said. "It would be expected to result in a substantial increase in zoo attendance, particularly in the initial years."
It also would attract more Asian visitors, the study said. Currently, Asian residents areless likely than other Bay Area citizens to visit the zoo.
"Chinese attendance at the Oakland Zoo would grow as a result of the giant panda exhibit and the growth would be higher than the rate of growth of other ancestries," the report said.
The zoo paid $38,000 for the study to help city and zoo officials understand what sort of economic impact the pandas could have. Results of the study are considered good news.
"All through the project I thought it would happen this way," said City Councilmember Henry Chang (At-Large), who has been leading the community effort to bring the bamboo-eating pandas to Oakland. "It is good to have someone that people can trust and who has been doing market studies to come to the same conclusion."
The city and the Oakland Zoo have been working since 1999 to lease a pair of pandas from China for research and display.
Four other U.S. zoos -- San Diego, Memphis, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. -- have pairs of giant pandas.
In March, Chang announced a letter of intent had been signed between the Oakland/East Bay Zoological Society and the Bejing Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens, bringing Oakland one step closer to acquiring a panda pair.
Although the market study does not mean pandas are officially coming to Oakland, those who support the Panda Project say it is likely Oakland will have them this year.
Zoo Director Joel Parrott said the remaining steps are smaller and easier to accomplish. The zoo needs to conduct financial planning documents, create a business plan and apply for export permits from China and import permits from the United States. The zoo also must build a panda exhibit.
"We are optimistic we can achieve it," Parrott said. "It is still a large hill, but it isn't the mountain that it was."
Chang said project supporters have to raise less money than initially expected to build housing for the animals. He said firms are donating time to design the project, and he has verbal agreements with companies to donate materials to build it.
"Some businesses have already indicated they will donate all of the labor, too," he said.
He said supporters will have to raise about $1.2 million for other costs. So far, the zoo has raised less than $200,000, Chang said.
The Oakland China Wildlife Preservation Foundation, a group formed to help bring pandas to Oakland, raised about $70,000 during an April fund-raiser, and the restaurant chain Panda Express raised $36,000 for the effort, donating portions of sales at Bay Area stores.
Willie Yee, Chang's chief of staff, said officials at the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding already have picked a pair suitable for Oakland.
"I have no doubt that we will get them," Yee said. "When we are ready, they will be shipped over here."
From the Oakland Tribune, Laura Casey
April 12, 2005: Nonprofit starts
panda pursuit with fund-raiser
$500-a-plate gala will raise money for effort to bring pair to Oakland
OAKLAND — Oakland China Wildlife Preservation Foundation, the nonprofit organization charged with raising money to bring a pair of giant pandas to the Oakland Zoo, will hold its first fund-raising event next week.
The $500-a-plate gala will feature a silent auction and dinner April 21. Mayor Jerry Brown and other city leaders will attend, said Debbie Bacigalupi, vice president of corporate relations for the Oakland China Wildlife Preservation Foundation.
"This is the big kickoff event," Bacigalupi said.
The city of Oakland and the Oakland Zoo have been working since 1999 to lease a pair of giant pandas from China for research and display. Four other zoos in the United States — San Diego; Memphis, Tenn.; Washington, D.C., and Atlanta — have pairs of giant pandas.
Councilmember Henry Chang Jr. (At Large) has been leading the effort to bring the animals to Oakland. In March 2004, Chang announced a letter of intent had been signed between the Oakland/East Bay Zoological Society and the Bejing Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens, bringing Oakland one step closer to acquiring a pair.
Chang said competition is fierce between the Oakland Zoo and other zoos across the United States and Canada. He said Oakland has been promised the last pair to be loaned to North America.
"This is of international significance," Chang said. "The Oakland Zoo and Oakland will really be elevated to a world-class zoo and a world-class city."
Officials said they hope to raise an initial $8 million to $10 million to build the zoo facility for the pandas. Chang and Bacigalupi said the gala is the first of many events the Oakland China Wildlife Preservation Foundation will hold to raise money.
To purchase tickets for the Inaugural Giant Panda Gala, call 238-3742 or visit www.ocwildlife.org.
From InsideBayArea, Laura Casey
December 2, 2004: "The Father of Pandas," Oakland Officials Join OCWP in Confirming Panda Program for Bay Area
(Oakland, CA) - December 2, 2004 - As article in today's Oakland Tribune calls City of Oakland predictions that there will be pandas at the Oakland Zoo by winter 2005 optimistic, but also exciting.
The article recapped the highlights of the previous day's press conference in Oakland by Vice Mayor Henry Chang. He was joined byZhang Zhine, president of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China. With him, as well, were US Rep. Barbara Lee, City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, and Councilmember Jean Quan, as well as prominent Oakland Chinatown business leaders.
Zhang's reputation for breeding success is such that Chang called him "The Fatehr of Pandas."
The article, written by Laura Casey, is excerpted below:
Vice Mayor Henry Chang expects giant pandas in Oakland by this time next year.
That is an optimistic goal, said Jinping Yu, the conservation biologist for the Atlanta Zoo, one of just four zoos in the United States the endangered animals call home.
Although Chang again announced Wednesday that Oakland will be home to a pair of giant pandas, their arrival will come at a price that cannot be measured by public officials' excitement about the idea.
It will take political power and yuan - money - Yu said. And a whole lot of patience.
Zhine credited Oakland with helping the research center create a successful breeding program, and he said he supports Oakland's bid for the animals.
Supporters of the giant panda project, which include Chang and members of Oakland China Panda Foundation and the Oakland China Wildlife Preservation Foundation, must now acquire an export permit issued by the Chinese Ministry of Forestry, which is being processed.
From Oakland China Wildlife Preservation site
May 13, 2004: Pandas for zoo a step
closer
City signs letter of intent with several Chinese groups
The Oakland Zoo has moved a step closer in its long effort to obtain a rare breeding pair of giant pandas from a research group in China, officials announced Wednesday.
The zoo quietly signed a letter of intent with several Chinese groups in March to obtain a pair of pandas for breeding in Oakland. City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente said the city hopes to complete a deal for a specific pair next month.
"I am optimistic," he said. "Everybody knows that it is very difficult to bring pandas out of China."
Only four panda pairs live in the United States, in zoos in San Diego, Atlanta, Memphis and Washington, D.C. At least a dozen cities have tried to get pandas. Oakland, Omaha and Toronto have signed letters of intent.
In 2000, Oakland signed its first agreement with China and hoped to have a pair within two years. But the process slowed down until the recent letter of intent, which does not guarantee that the zoo will get pandas.
Zoo officials and Vice Mayor Henry Chang, a native of China who has led Oakland's bid for pandas, could not be reached Wednesday for comment.
Under Oakland's agreement, the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens would loan two pandas to the East Bay Zoological Society, a nonprofit organization that runs the zoo, for 10 years. In return, the Oakland Zoo would pay the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens a sum of money to be negotiated.
Under the deal, the Oakland Zoo would be allowed to show the public the pandas under conditions favorable to breeding. Any offspring of the two pandas would be returned to China with their parents under the deal.
Oakland also agrees not to clone the pandas or use any of the DNA for cloning. Under the agreement, the pandas would be a pair born in captivity provided by the Chengdu Giant Pandas Breeding Research Center in Sichuan province.
Pandas are extremely endangered, with little more than 1,000 remaining in fragmented and isolated habitat islands in southern China. The distinctive black-and-white, bear-like creatures live almost solely on a diet of bamboo, up to 33 pounds a day, in the wild. In captivity, they have been known to eat other food, including sweet potatoes and carrots.
Americans have been entranced by pandas since 1972, when President Richard Nixon brought Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing to the National Zoo in Washington as a symbol of thawing relations between China and the United States.
Only two cubs have been born in the United States, both in San Diego, in 1999 and 2003, said Dr. Don Lindburg, a panda expert with the San Diego Zoo. The process to obtain pandas can be long, complicated and expensive -- but exciting, he said.
"Our first trip to China was in 1979, and it took a long time for the Chinese government to agree to let pandas leave the country,'' Lindburg said. "You've got to be patient, you've got to be diplomatic, and you've got to be willing to spend money."
Under federal law and international treaty, Lindburg said, any zoo that makes a profit from its panda program must send the money back to species- preservation programs in China.
Pandas draw much interest at zoos and via the Internet. Attendance at the Memphis Zoo increased 48 percent after a panda pair moved there in 2001. After the birth of the first panda in the United States, Hua Mei, the San Diego Zoo's Web site registered 4 million hits.
From the San Francisco Chronicle, Jim Herron Zamora
March 2, 2000: Oakland May Get Panda
Pair
City leaders, zoo official to travel to China to seal deal for rare bears
OAKLAND -- A pair of rare and adorable giant pandas could find a new home in Oakland, making the city only the third in the nation to house the famed black-and- white bears.
Oakland leaders have signed an agreement with local government leaders in China and plan to travel to Beijing next month to seal the deal with China's federal government for two giant pandas.
There are only five pandas in U.S. zoos, two in Atlanta and three, including a new cub, in San Diego. There are believed to be fewer than 1,000 in the wild, all of them in China.
``I've been dreaming about pandas for years,'' Vice Mayor Henry Chang said yesterday. Chang is the architect of the agreement between Oakland and the Pingwu People's Government in China's Sichuan province, home to a vast panda reserve.
Chang, a native of China whose City Hall office is
decorated with computer-generated photographs of himself and pandas, said bringing a male and female panda to Oakland ``will put us on the map, not just for the whole United States but internationally.''
But even with the agreement of the Chinese government, which Chang expects, the project could take years and cost millions of dollars.
``It's a long, hard trip from agreeing to an offer from (local) Chinese officials until you arrive with pandas on your doorstep,'' said David Towne of the North American Panda Foundation, an organization of zoos and other groups that oversees attempts to bring pandas to the United States.
Towne estimated that a dozen U.S. cities have letters of intent from local governments in China for panda loans.
Building a research facility for the pandas would cost $8 million to $10 million and operating costs probably would reach $1 million a year, Oakland officials say. In addition to the Chinese government, the U.S. government also would have to agree to import the pandas.
Chang said a panda exhibit and facility could open in two years, but Joel Parrott, executive director of the Oakland Zoo, said it could take at least twice that long. Parrott will accompany Chang, Mayor Jerry Brown, City Manager Robert Bobb and others to China next month.
But Chang already is lining up support, from researchers at the respected University of California at Davis veterinary school to local companies that would provide money and equipment.
And Parrott said Oakland has some important factors in its favor -- some of the mildest weather in the nation and a zoo in a 120-acre park with plenty of room for expansion.
``It would mean we're playing a critical role in one of the most endangered species in the world today. That would be a tremendous honor,'' he said.
And having a male and female panda would open the possibility that Oakland could someday have its own baby panda.
America's love affair with the cuddly giants began nearly three decades ago when then-President Richard Nixon brought Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., as a token of friendship from China.
The country's enthusiasm hasn't waned much. Baby Hua Mei, born in August at the San Diego Zoo to two pandas on long-term loan from China, is the subject of both a panda hotline and a ``panda cam.'' The zoo's Web site registered more than 4 million hits in one month after her birth.
The only other pandas in the United States are a pair in Atlanta that arrived in November, the same month Hsing-Hsing was euthanized at age 28 because of a kidney disease.
The National Zoo would like to replace its pair, but has said it cannot afford the $1.2 million annual fee charged by the Chinese. St. Louis and Memphis also are pursuing pandas for their zoos.
It is not an easy feat. It took Atlanta 10 years to close their deal.
San Francisco's ``panda war'' between then-Mayor Frank Jordan and then-Supervisor Angela Alioto in 1993 started with both politicians saying they had agreements with local governments in China to secure pandas. The promises went nowhere.
But Chang, who has spent two decades cultivating government and business ties in China as a consultant to U.S. businesses and as an Oakland official, said ``everyone in China thinks we're there already, that everything's arranged.''
He said the Chinese are willing to waive the annual fee because they are interested in the research Oakland has proposed. The project would focus on finding an alternative food source for pandas because their bamboo diet is threatened by habitat loss.
Chang is among the few Americans to visit pandas in their native habitat in China.
``They're not as cute as here (in zoos). They're dirty,'' he said, but ``once you see a panda in the wild, that's it. You're in love.''
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GIANT PANDAS
Giant pandas are bears that have roamed temperate bamboo forests of China
for 3 million years. Only 700 to 1,000 remain in the wild, making them a well-recognized
symbol of endangered species.
DIET: Pandas feed almost exclusively on the stems and leaves of bamboo, consuming 25 to 80 pounds a day in the wild. They have evolved an enlarged wrist bone that works as an opposable thumb to help them climb with dexterity and precision.
ZOO PANDAS: More than 100 pandas in Chinese zoos, and several more in North Korea. In the United States, one pair in Atlanta and a pair in San Diego with a newborn cub. The oldest panda in captivity, Hsing Hsing, was euthanized last year at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. at age 28.
From the San Francisco Chronicle, Janine DeFao