Whether in New York, Manchester, Melbourne, or Barcelona, most of the giant pandas that you see in a zoo near you are from China. Most of the Pandas came at a high price. But it wasn’t always like this. From the 1950s to the 1980s, China used to gift giant pandas to other countries. In 30 years, they gifted over 23 pandas to Great Britain, Spain, Japan, the United States, and Mexico.
Most of those gifted pandas are no longer alive because a panda has a maximum lifespan of 30 years. However, in Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico, two pandas are children of gifted pandas Xin Xin and Shaun Shaun. These are the only two known pandas that are not owned by China.
You must be wondering why in the 1980’s China stopped gifting them? Well, in the 1980s, they changed their policy and decided to make money off those cute creatures. According to reports, China today charges nearly around half a million dollars to a million dollars every year for loaning a giant panda.
Terms and conditions
And there are some terms and conditions of loans that include if any cubs are born to rented pandas are the exclusive property of China and should be returned in two years. Also, if a cub dies on loan because of human error, millions of dollars penalty will be charged.
The Republic of China has also made it mandatory to have life insurance for each loaned Panda. In the States, the Panda’s life insurance policy must be at least $1 million and will be paid to China if the Panda dies. If the Panda’s death is because of human error or caretaker’s carelessness, $800 thousand must be paid to the Chinese Government in addition to the $1 million of life insurance.
Apart from acquiring them, Panda’s are costly to maintain too. They require special attention, but they can help a zoo make a lot of money also.
So, coming back to the question of China owns every Panda in the world? Well, most of the Panda’s are owned by China, and there are probably only two pandas in the world that are not owned by China. They are in Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico.
