Now all that’s left of those three bears are memories and mementos. Post reporters gathered some of the items that symbolize the connection D.C.’s panda fans have felt to the animals for the past 51 years. We put the items in a box, and for now, we’re putting it on the shelf.
It’s an asymmetric breakup: Three pandas are leaving, but thousands of Washingtonians are experiencing the heartbreak. We talked to some of the people who are deeply affected by the animals’ departure, and what they’re doing to stash their cherished memories away.
A panda-less Woodley Park
Soon after Yael Krigman moved her bakery, Baked by Yael, into a space across from the National Zoo’s entrance in 2015, people began to ask her for panda-related treats, she said. Thus the panda cake pop was born. As time went on, she said, the cake pops became a pillar of her brand. Even with the pandas gone, Krigman said, the cake pops will remain.
It’s not the first time she’s been deprived of her bakery’s muse and mascot, she said. Before the pandas’ departure Wednesday, her bakery staff had weathered two government shutdowns along with the pandemic, all of which closed the zoo.
“The pandas are super cute, but their departure is not going to put us out of business,” she said. “We’ve just worked too hard.”
Still, it’s possible fewer people will visit the zoo — and surrounding shops — after the pandas’ departure. Robert Meins, executive director of Woodley Park Main Street, said those relationships could fizzle, too.
“You know, the more diverse and the more interesting the offerings that the zoo has, the more people will come — it’s that simple,” he said, adding, “But what the total net effect of them leaving is going to be, I don’t think anyone knows.”
A short distance south on Connecticut Avenue NW, LiLLiES has been making “panda pancakes” since the restaurant opened in 2011, said Ryan Raihan, a manager at the restaurant. When it opened, kids in panda hats and T-shirts would run in and order the pancakes — a staple on the menu.
But splitting up with the pandas affects more than the restaurant’s brunch orders, he said.
“This hurts,” Raihan said. “They’re a huge part of our culture and our neighborhood. It’s not even about the financial gain or loss that is going to happen because of them leaving.”
Champions of conservation
Colby Loucks, vice president for wildlife at the World Wildlife Fund, remembers seeing pandas for the first time at the National Zoo in the 1980s. He was mesmerized.
In 1996, he began interning at the WWF. By 1999, he was working directly with pandas in China. As a memento, he bought a pack of cigarettes with a picture of a panda on the box in 2001 in Chengdu — the same place that Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and Xiao Qi Ji flew to on Wednesday.
He fell deeper in love with the pandas for their distinct coloration, their nonstop bamboo feasts and their carefree nature, he said. All these years later, he still loves coming back to the D.C. zoo and watching them roll down hills and climb trees, just for the sake of having fun.
“This is anthropomorphizing a little bit, but they seem to truly have a sheer enjoyment of just messing around,” he said.
It’s a kind of panda love felt by many who work in conservation, said Alexander Nicolas, a senior program officer at the WWF. Before he started working in conservation, Nicolas, now 30, looked forward to seeing the pandas every time he visited D.C. They were the “gateway animal” that hooked him into learning more about wildlife.
“The pandas paved the way for my eventual choice of career,” Nicolas said.
With the pandas gone, Loucks said, the community will lose its only real chance to see pandas. (The last remaining pandas in the U.S. will return to China next year.) Though he has engaged in panda conservation at the WWF since 1999, Loucks said, he has never seen a wild panda. It’s largely through zoos and other conservation centers that Americans can catch a glimpse of the lovable bears.
“Sometimes you really don’t know what you’re missing until it’s gone,” Loucks said. “But I think with the zoo’s pandas, we know what we’re going to be missing. And we will miss them.”
When kids think wildlife, they think pandas.
That’s according to Meagan Jones, a teacher at AppleTree at Rocketship Legacy charter school in Southeast D.C., who said her students all want to spend their time learning about pandas.
Jones said when she first pulled up the zoo’s panda cam, the children beamed as the giant bears appeared before them. The kids now ask to check on the web feed all the time, she said.
“They love them,” Jones said. “We have several panda toys in the classroom. So we talk about pandas very regularly.”
Jones said the kids love learning facts about pandas — their diet, their coats, what they look like as babies. A story about pandas is also part of the school’s official curriculum, she said. As part of another panda activity, Morgan Powell, a teacher at AppleTree’s at its Spring Valley campus in Northwest D.C., created a version of Mei Xiang out of a paper bag and had her students pick the kinds of food she should eat. Some fed the panda bamboo, others apples and grapes.
Powell said teaching her kids about pandas is a great way to help their social-emotional learning. The students asked her how the pandas might feel about leaving for China. Will they miss D.C.? And, the question all of D.C.’s panda fans are pondering: Will they come back?
Norma Valentini, a lifelong D.C.-area resident, remembers seeing Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing with her parents when the pandas first came to the zoo in 1972. She stood in line for hours to see those two pandas.
It was the beginning of a 51-year relationship.
As years went by, Valentini continued to visit. She made it to every panda birthday party and goodbye festival. But this fall, she knew their time was up.
Valentini said she came every week this fall in an attempt to send off the bears, especially Xiao Qi Ji, whom she described as her source of hope after working as a nurse during the pandemic.
“I swear I feel a special connection to him,” she said. “He brought me so much joy during a very trying time in our country.”
Valentini is part of a small group of extra-frequent zoogoers, some of whom visit weekly, some daily. Another is Helen Gonzales, who lives in Adams Morgan. Gonzales said she went to the zoo nearly every day in October and November to see the pandas before they left. She described them as a salve that would soothe and uplift her when other parts of her life weren’t going her way.
“In the mornings, I knew I could come here and see the pandas and it would take my mind off my worries at least for a while,” Gonzales said. “I could come here and smile.”
David Uy, executive director of D.C.’s Chinese American Museum, described the pandas as cultural ambassadors. He understands why their departure feels like the end of an era, but he said their legacy in building cross-cultural connections would remain even after they’re gone.
“It is kind of like a breakup,” he said. “But hopefully it becomes a long-distance relationship.”
Editing by Aaron Wiener and Tara McCarty. Design and art direction by Jose Soto. Additional art direction by Cece Pascual. Design editing by Christian Font. Copy editing by Brandon Standley.
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