Pandas Boost Attendance; Zoo Hopes for Longer Stay

The loan of two giant pandas from China has helped raise attendance at the San Diego Zoo by 35%, a zoo official said Wednesday, expressing optimism that Chinese officials shortly will give their formal blessing to a 100-day extension of the pandas’ stay.

Georgeanne Irvine, a zoo spokeswoman, said the zoo expects within the next week or two to receive written confirmation from the general secretary of the China Wildlife Conservation Assn. that the pandas will remain in San Diego into early 1988.

“We’ve been given their word that we can have (the extension),” said Irvine, who said turnout at the zoo has been more than a third above last year’s levels since the pandas arrived. “But we just have to finalize it with a letter.”

One aim of the visit has been to stir public support for endangered species like the panda, whose numbers have dwindled to 700 in the wild. Zoo officials had also expressed interest in studying the behavior and physiology of the rare animals.

The agreement signed last May by the Chinese and the San Diego Zoo established a 100-day panda visit with an option for a second 100 days. The pandas arrived July 23, so the first leg of their visit is scheduled to end in late October.

Irvine said the zoo’s consultant, Dr. Edgar Liong, has been negotiating with the Chinese wildlife official, Li Gui Ling. She said it appears to be common for the Chinese to withhold written formal approval of such extensions until the last minute.

“I can tell you that no arrangements are being made to send the animals back, and that’s something that often takes quite a bit of time,” said Irvine. She described the pandas’ visit as a great success and said the animals’ Chinese handlers have been pleased by the reception.

According to Irvine, zoo officials had projected that the pandas’ presence would increase daily attendance by as many as 5,000 visitors a day--an estimate based on increases experienced at other U.S. zoos that have received pandas on loan.

Irvine said turnout almost reached that projected level during August and early September. She said current attendance has “slacked off” to about 2,000 to 3,000 above average, though the zoo still expects to log in a record total of 4 million visits in 1987.

“We feel we’ve done very, very well,” Irvine said.

Irvine said researchers with the zoo’s Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species have not begun working with the pandas. She said only the Chinese have “gone ahead with their medical exams” studying such things as heart rate, urine and blood.

Decades of Effort

The visit by the pandas, a 7-year-old female and a 6-year-old male from the Fuzhou Zoo in Fujian province in southeastern China, culminates decades of efforts by San Diego Zoological Society officials to arrange for a panda loan.

The zoo is currently the only West Coast zoo exhibiting pandas. Two were displayed in Los Angeles and San Francisco in 1984, but the only other ones now in the United States are in Washington, D.C., and New York City.