Pandas

In 1984, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the giant panda as an endangered species, restricting importation into the United States. The giant panda is also listed as endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). International trade in giant pandas is controlled under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The total giant panda population in the wild is thought to be only between about 1,000 individuals, most of which live in 13 forest reserves established for this rare animal in China. The two major threats to the survival of giant pandas are habitat loss and poaching.

The giant panda lives only in particular types of sub-alpine forest. Destruction of this habitat by deforestation is a serious problem, because giant pandas living there have no other place to go. It is estimated that suitable habitat was halved between 1980 and the late 1990s. The Chinese government is attempting to deal with this problem through a plan to relocate logging operations out of panda habitats, to create 14 new reserves, and to expand the size of existing reserves.

Although pandas are legally protected in China as an endangered species, poaching still occurs. Panda pelts can sell for more than $10,000 in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan. The Chinese government has set sentences for convicted poachers of life imprisonment, or even death, and these stiff sentences may begin to deter the killing of wild pandas.

Pandas have been kept in western zoos since the 1930s, and in Chinese zoos since the 1950s. The first birth of a giant panda in captivity occurred at the Beijing Zoo in 1963, and other births have followed. The first captive birth outside China occurred in 1980 at the Mexico City Zoo. The Chinese government presented a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. in 1972. For 20 years, the pair attracted visitors from around the country, although they never succeeded in raising young. To date, captive births outside of China have been very few, although researchers in many countries are trying to develop successful breeding programs.