Omaha Panda Exhbit

[PotatoeEatsFish]

The World Herald just did a story on the cancelled panda exhbit. I personally am glad that they didn't go through with it. Pandas cost a lot, I'm glad their using the money to update other areas of the zoo.

[NEDodger]

Big surprise - the Chinese wanted to jack around and kill a deal that would have helped U.S. exports.

$55 million for ONE animal species? No thanks.

[Uffda]

Article in the Sunday paper

http://dataomaha.com/bigstory/story/106 ... -of-pandas

Panda pursuit is history
When Chinese tried to scuttle Nebraska trade deal in 2007, Omaha zoo abruptly ended its panda quest.

Omaha seemed so close to getting pandas.

A six-year pursuit between 2001 and 2007 put the Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium alone at the top of the list to receive a pair of giant pandas from China.
Everything was in place. An exhibit had been designed, planned for just east of the Lied Jungle, and about $55 million was committed by the zoo’s benefactors.

Chinese diplomats and scientists visited the zoo, Nebraska politicians visited China, money was sent to support giant pandas in the wild, and all kinds of concessions were made to keep Chinese panda power players appeased.

Then the deal fell apart...

[bigredmed]

Panda displays rarely are a long term profit center for zoos as the buzz wears off long before the investment is recouped. In this story, we see Omaha getting played by the Chinese. This was in the era of us getting played by BMW and Mercedes.

Fortunately, as new city leaders emerge, we seem to be losing the "Gee, won't it be great if X loves us?" and replacing it with "Gee, glad to see you come, we are willing to help you once the deal is signed".

Dumping the Pandas was the right call.

[zippy]

My recollection is that our zoo would have the ability and facilities to grow enough bamboo for a pair of pandas, but the lease agreement would have required them to purchase bamboo directly from China. Anyone else remember hearing something like that?

[yellowcolumbia]

My recollection is that our zoo would have the ability and facilities to grow enough bamboo for a pair of pandas, but the lease agreement would have required them to purchase bamboo directly from China. Anyone else remember hearing something like that?

The WH article indicated that the plan at the time was to purchase bamboo grown in the south, Mississippi, I think.

[Coyote]

Here's what China's panda diplomacy program ending in the US may mean



Soon, there will be no more pandas left in the United States. CNN's David Culver explains how this relates to diplomatic ties between China and the US.

[Garrett]

Welp, good thing that didn’t happen I guess

[ChadJK]

I saw the ones at the Smithsonian National Zoo in DC back in like 2015. It was nothing to do backflips over. Honestly, I found the Red Pandas cooler.

[ita]

More pandas will be coming to the U.S., China's president signals

hinese President Xi Jinping signaled that China will send new pandas to the United States, calling them "envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples."

"We are ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation, and do our best to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen the friendly ties between our two peoples," Xi said Wednesday during a dinner speech with business leaders.

The gesture came at the end of a day in which Xi and President Biden held their first face to face meeting in a year and pledged to try to reduce tensions. Xi did not share additional details on when or where pandas might be provided but appeared to suggest the next pair of pandas are most likely to come to California, probably San Diego.

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 the pandas to other U.S. zoos, with proceeds going back to panda conservation programs.

I think it would be cool if Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo got some in this possible next allotment of pandas. It could have it's own space; maybe where the cat complex used to be. I could make a joke about the governor probably banning them as they may be spies, but I won't.

[almighty_tuna]

IIRC, the HDZ, since back in the Doc days, was not ever going to get pandas because they essentially are renting the animals, conservation efforts directly benefit China b/c all offspring, etc, must be shipped back, and the exhibit would operate at a fairly significant loss as well. Too many rules, not enough benefit to the zoo in pretty much any arena other than bragging rights.

Crazy that pandas are diplomatic leverage.

[Louie]

IIRC, the HDZ, since back in the Doc days, was not ever going to get pandas because they essentially are renting the animals, conservation efforts directly benefit China b/c all offspring, etc, must be shipped back, and the exhibit would operate at a fairly significant loss as well. Too many rules, not enough benefit to the zoo in pretty much any arena other than bragging rights.

Crazy that pandas are diplomatic leverage.

Yeah, I see no benefit in getting pandas at HDZ.

[ita]

IIRC, the HDZ, since back in the Doc days, was not ever going to get pandas because they essentially are renting the animals, conservation efforts directly benefit China b/c all offspring, etc, must be shipped back, and the exhibit would operate at a fairly significant loss as well. Too many rules, not enough benefit to the zoo in pretty much any arena other than bragging rights.

Crazy that pandas are diplomatic leverage.

That makes sense. Too bad, having the only pandas in the midwest could boost visitors even higher. Oh well.

[almighty_tuna]

IIRC, the HDZ, since back in the Doc days, was not ever going to get pandas because they essentially are renting the animals, conservation efforts directly benefit China b/c all offspring, etc, must be shipped back, and the exhibit would operate at a fairly significant loss as well. Too many rules, not enough benefit to the zoo in pretty much any arena other than bragging rights.

Crazy that pandas are diplomatic leverage.

That makes sense. Too bad, having the only pandas in the midwest could boost visitors even higher. Oh well.

Yeah, probably, but also to the detriment of the other exhibits at HDZ. Not in terms of exhibit viewership, but available resources to expand and maintain them.

[ita]

IIRC, the HDZ, since back in the Doc days, was not ever going to get pandas because they essentially are renting the animals, conservation efforts directly benefit China b/c all offspring, etc, must be shipped back, and the exhibit would operate at a fairly significant loss as well. Too many rules, not enough benefit to the zoo in pretty much any arena other than bragging rights.

Crazy that pandas are diplomatic leverage.

That makes sense. Too bad, having the only pandas in the midwest could boost visitors even higher. Oh well.

Yeah, probably, but also to the detriment of the other exhibits at HDZ. Not in terms of exhibit viewership, but available resources to expand and maintain them.

Another good point.