Giant pandas have returned to the National Zoo in Washington, drawing joyful crowds.
Two pandas, Bao Li and Qing Bao, made their public debut Friday in front of hundreds of excited fans, the first pandas at the zoo in more than a year.
Lisa Barham came all the way from Cleveland, Ohio, with her son to see them.
“It’s just fantastic to be able to experience this as a family,” she told VOA’s Mandarin Service.
Bao Li is the son of Bao Bao, a giant panda who was born at the National Zoo in 2013 and was returned to China.
“I brought my little boy to see Bao Bao’s little boy,” Barham said.
The pair of pandas, who are both 3 years old, rolled in Washington’s newly fallen snow and munched on bamboo. Crowds lined up for hours before the zoo opened at 8 a.m. to catch a glimpse of the bears.
The pandas arrived from China in October but have been in quarantine while their enclosure was renovated.
National Zoo director Brandie Smith told VOA that the pandas are “a symbol of happiness and joy.”
“The pandas to me are such a success story … a story of panda friendship between our cultures,” she said.
Because of conservation efforts, the giant panda is no longer on the endangered species list. However, it is still listed as “vulnerable.”
Smith said that at the start of the zoo’s program with pandas, which began in the 1970s, the focus was on producing more pandas to create an “insurance population” for the planet.
“We accomplished that, and now the focus is really on habitat,” she said.
About 1,864 giant pandas live in their native habitat in Asia while another 600 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers around the world, according to the National Zoo’s website.
Any cubs born to the new pandas are returned to China to join that country’s breeding program.
The pandas are in Washington on a 10-year lease from China. The National Zoo says it is paying the China Wildlife and Conservation Association $1 million per year for the animals.
At an opening ceremony at the zoo Friday morning, students from Yu Ying Public Charter School, a dual Chinese and English school in Washington, wore panda ears and sang a song about friendship.
The school’s executive director, Carlie Fisher, told VOA that the “pandas represent peace and goodwill.”
The zoo relaunched its popular Panda Cam on Friday, with 40 cameras streaming images of the furry bears throughout the day. The site had 75,000 views by 11:30 a.m. on Friday, according to zoo officials.
VOA Mandarin Service reporter Calla Yu contributed to this report. Some information came from Agence France-Presse.
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