Mei Lan boards the FedEx "Panda Express"
As journalists, local dignitaries and a throng of FedEx employees saw giant panda Mei Lan get hoisted in her cage onto the FedEx plane bound for a breeding center in China, I wondered how her parents were doing back at Zoo Atlanta. Would they miss their 3-year-old daughter, or notice she was gone?
Dr. Rebecca Snyder, the zoo’s Curator of Carnivores, informed me that panda parents do not suffer empty-nest syndrome. Once their cubs are weaned, at about 18 months, the bears go their separate ways. At the zoo, which replicates the conditions of the wild, Mei Lan has been living independently for almost two years. Her parents were not expected to react when she didn’t show up for breakfast.
“Her mom moved on a long time ago,” Snyder said.
It was tougher for the humans to say goodbye, but the mood at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport was mainly of excitement and awe at the logistics to send a giant panda back to China. Mei Lan received the fanfare of a president, starting with the police motorcade that escorted her 1,300 pound steel crate and an even larger trailer full of food to a plane decorated with panda decals applied by FedEx employees in Memphis. At around 7 a.m., a hydraulic lift hoisted the trailer onto the 777 freighter, the newest member of the FedEx fleet and the world’s largest twin-engine cargo plane. The plane would soon leave for Washington Dulles International Airport to pick up her cousin and fellow traveler, Tai Shan, for the 14-and-a-half hour flight to China.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said the city should not be sad, but proud of its role in protecting the endangered panda species. As a result of diminished habitat, there are only about 1,600 giant pandas in the wild, all of whom live in China, “and we have a responsibility to protect them,” Reed said.
On Mei Lan’s last day in the U.S., media crews, families and tourists came to say farewell to the first giant panda cub born at Zoo Atlanta. The attention seemed to matter little to the beloved bear, who slept and ate the day away as she normally does, her backside to the cameras.
Zoo volunteers talked to visitors about the journey that three-year-old Mei Lan will take Thursday back to China, where she will be part of a breeding program there to bolster the endangered species.
Mei Lan is very genetically valuable, they said, because she is only one generation removed from wild pandas. Mom Lun Lun and dad Yang Yang, who will remain at the zoo — each had fathers who were born in the wild.
Her parents have been at the Atlanta zoo since 1999, on loan from the Chinese government. The zoo recently signed a five-year agreement to extend their stay. Mei Lan’s 17-month-old brother, Xi Lan, will remain in Atlanta for at least a couple more years.
Visitors on Wednesday had lots of questions about the panda’s journey:
Q: What will happen Thursday?
A: Before dawn, Mei Lan will leave the zoo in a FedEx truck to the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Following some remarks by a Zoo Atlanta representative, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, airport general manager Ben DeCosta and a FedEx representative, Mei Lan will be loaded on a FedEx 777 cargo plane to Dulles International Airport. There, she will join her cousin, Tai Shan, the first panda bred by the National Zoo. Together they will make the 14 1/2 hour flight to Chengdu, where they are headed for separate breeding centers.
Q: Who else will be on the plane besides the pandas?
A: A keeper from Zoo Atlanta and a veterinarian from the National Zoo.
Q: What will Mei Lan eat on the plane?
A: She’ll have her full daily regimen, 40 pounds of bamboo, biscuits and fruit.
Q: Will she be sedated?
A: No.
Q: Will she have an aisle or window seat?
A: Neither. She has a special crate designed with plenty of room for her to walk around. But she’ll probably spend most of the time sleeping, as that’s how pandas spend about 13 hours a day.
Q: UPS is based in Atlanta. Why isn’t the company shipping her?
A: UPS brought Mei Lan’s parents to the U.S., but the company has cut back on such in-kind donations and is focusing its philanthropy elsewhere. FedEx has donated the trips this time.
Q: If Mei Lan was born in the U.S., isn’t she an American citizen? Why must she go back to China?
A: All giant pandas outside China are on loan from the Chinese government — even those born on U.S. soil. China used to give pandas to countries as acts of diplomacy, such as Chairman Mao Zedong’s gift of two pandas to U.S. president Richard Nixon in 1972. But since 1984, China has only offered pandas on 10-year loans. The standard loan terms include a fee of up to $1 million per year and a provision that any cubs born during the loan are the property of the Chinese government. In addition to the National Zoo and Zoo Atlanta, China leases pandas to zoos in Memphis and San Diego.
For answers to more questions about the journey, check out the live chat that the Washington Post hosted Friday with Dave Lange, managing director of aircraft charters at FedEx.
This was my favorite question:
Will the Tai Shan shipment receive a FedEx tracking number, and if so can it be tracked via the tracking website?
(Dave Lange: Tai Shan and Mei Lan will be traveling on a International Air Waybill but not tracked in the traditional FedEx manner.)
