Hsing-Hsing Won't Be Stuffed
Smithsonian Secretary Drops Plan
to Display Giant Panda
By Phuong Ly and Martin Weil Hsing-Hsing, the National Zoo's much beloved and widely mourned giant panda, will not return to view as a stuffed exhibit in a museum, the Smithsonian Institution's new secretary said yesterday. After Hsing-Hsing, suffering from failing kidneys and other incurable infirmities, was euthanized in November, plans were reported to create a lifelike display in the National Museum of Natural History by stretching the animal's skin over an artificial framework. |
 This image is of some panda somewhere in the world who may or may not have already joined the ranks of the Dead Pandas. It really doesn't matter, though, because this panda looks exactly like Hsing Hsing would have looked like after being stuffed and displayed in a museum. |
But Lawrence M. Small, the new head of the Smithsonian, said yesterday that in recognition of emotional bonds forged over 27 years by an admiring public and of the mourning prompted by his death, "I simply said no."
Small also said negotiations are continuing to bring a new pair of pandas to Washington from China. Hsing-Hsing and his mate, Ling-Ling, arrived as a gift from the Chinese government in 1972. Ling-Ling died of heart failure in 1992.
"We have no reason to believe we are not on a very good track," said Small, although he said talks are complex and he could not say when any new pandas might arrive.
On Jan. 24, when Small became the 11th head of the complex of museums and educational and research institutions that make up the Smithsonian, one of the items that came under his purview was the ultimate disposition of the skin of the rare black and white mammal that was, a zoo spokesman said, "as loved as an animal can be."
The day after Hsing-Hsing died, it was announced that he--in an arrangement primarily involving his preserved skin--would be put on exhibit first in the museum rotunda, then in a new Hall of Mammals that is to open in 2003 with a strong emphasis on education and conservation.
It was the possibility of the rotunda display that apparently aroused the greatest dismay, among Hsing-Hsing's keepers as well as the 70 million people estimated to have seen him or his mate over the years. One zoo curator told of a message asking whether the display would be a prelude to stuffing and showing deceased presidents.
When he took over, Small said, "a lingering amount" of correspondence on the matter of displaying Hsing-Hsing continued to arrive. A reporter's question prompted him to look into it, he said, and he found that "people didn't like that idea . . . didn't think it was appropriate for the remains of such a beloved animal."
Out of sensitivity to the feelings of "all the people who had felt so warmly" toward Hsing-Hsing, he said, the decision was made some time ago. The word went out, and "that was it."
© 2000 The Washington Post Company
Smithsonian to Display
Zoo's Departed Panda
By DVera Cohn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday , November 30, 1999 ; A1
The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History announced yesterday that the body of Hsing-Hsing, the National Zoo's beloved giant panda, will be preserved and go on display early next year, even as zoo officials turned their attention to finding a replacement panda pair.
The museum, which was given the panda's skin and skeleton, will put him on display in its rotunda at first, then move him to a prominent place in a new Hall of Mammals that will open in 2003, a museum spokesman said. The museum already has one preserved panda on exhibit.
Hsing-Hsing had enthralled visitors to the National Zoo since 1972, when he and Ling-Ling, his mate, arrived from China as a gift from the government after President Richard M. Nixon's historic visit there. They were the zoo's most popular and best-known animals.
Yesterday, a half-dozen bouquets and a child's drawing were placed at the Panda House in memory of Hsing-Hsing, who was euthanized Sunday at age 28. Two officials from the Chinese Embassy came to the zoo to express condolences. More than 350 people posted sympathy notes on washingtonpost.com.
"Hsing-Hsing for more than 25 years has been an icon not just to the American people but to visitors from all over the world," said Randall Kremer, spokesman for the Natural History Museum. "It's certainly been our feeling at the museum that we should honor the legacy of both Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling in some manner fitting to the contribution that they made to our understanding of the need for conservation of endangered species."
Ling-Ling died of heart failure in 1992. After some mating setbacks, the two produced five offspring, although none survived. Kremer said Ling-Ling could not be displayed because the necropsy on her was not done with that in mind.
The process of preparing Hsing-Hsing for display will involve placing his skin over a man-made frame that is designed to appear lifelike...
...The zoo's pathologist said a postmortem exam of Hsing-Hsing found multiple problems in addition to the advanced kidney disease that had severely weakened him, including an enlarged heart and a possibly cancerous stomach mass the size of a tangerine...
...Zoo officials said Hsing-Hsing's kidney disease, diagnosed in May, was causing him to suffer so much that it was more humane to put him to death. The panda also had arthritis, failing sight and nosebleeds. His health had declined dramatically over the past week, and he could barely move.
Montali said the postmortem examination and blood tests confirmed that "euthanasia was the right thing to do at this point."
Hsing-Hsing Display Delayed
D'Vera Cohn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 1, 1999 ; B03
Hsing-Hsing, the last of the National Zoo's giant pandas, will not go on display at the National Museum of Natural History until at least 2001, a delay from plans announced Monday to exhibit the animal early next year.
Rather than put the stuffed panda up as a stand-alone display, museum spokesman Randall Kremer said yesterday, officials decided to exhibit the animal in a mock-up of its native bamboo-forest environment. That will be more educational, he said, but also will take more time.
"We have a tremendous opportunity to show a panda specimen, and we want to do it right," Kremer said. "The feeling is now that we should put it in the context of its native habitat."
Hsing-Hsing was euthanized Sunday because of worsening kidney disease. The panda and his mate, Ling-Ling, who died of heart failure in 1992, had been the zoo's most beloved animals since they arrived in 1972 as a gift of the Chinese government following President Richard M. Nixon's visit to that country.
The museum is modernizing its Hall of Mammals to eliminate single-animal displays and substitute fuller environmental exhibits that may include several specimens. Kremer said Hsing-Hsing may be included in a display with the museum's other preserved panda, a specimen that came from China decades ago.