Can you pet a panda in China?
Can you pet a panda in China? The facilities in Chengdu are the only locations in the world where you can hold a giant panda. The opportunity to see them up close and hold one was too much. I had to go! I decided to visit the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding Center.
Do any US zoos have pandas?
The San Diego Zoo returned its pandas in 2019, and the last bear at the Memphis, Tennessee, zoo went home earlier this year. The departure of the National Zoo's bears would mean that the only giant pandas left in America are at the Atlanta Zoo — and that loan agreement expires late next year.
Can I touch pandas in China?
There is literally one place in the entire world where you can hold a baby panda bear and it's at Dujiangyan Panda Base and Center for Disease Control which is two hours outside of Chengdu, China. Chengdu, a four hour plane ride from Shanghai, is the capital of Sichuan Province.
Do zoos have to pay China for pandas?
The Chinese government, which gifted the first pair of pandas - Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling - to the U.S., now leases the pandas out for a typical 10-year renewable term. The annual fee ranges from $1 million to $2 million per pair, plus mandatory costs to build and maintain facilities to house the animals.