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Zoo may seek to swap one or both pandas in hopes of breeding a cub
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In that case, the zoo was allowed to keep its pandas for five more years. The old lease was for 10 years. The Atlanta pandas have produced two cubs and are being bred to try for a third, he said.
Kelly was in China for several days late last month to talk with Chinese officials about a new agreement for the National Zoo. Washington's giant pandas are at the zoo on a 10-year, $1 million-a-year lease. The four U.S. zoos that have giant pandas have all been in the process of renegotiating their expiring agreements with China, which owns all giant pandas in U.S. zoos.
The new model is a five-year, $500,000-a-year lease, already agreed to in Atlanta and San Diego, Kelly said. "The pattern set by San Diego and Atlanta we think will be extended to Washington," he said. "We are next."
The National Zoo has tried breeding its pandas naturally and with artificial insemination since they arrived. They have never successfully bred naturally. Tai Shan was born via artificial insemination July 9, 2005.
Kelly said scientists believe that in the wild, panda reproduction takes place after the female goes into heat and alerts local males by scent marking. The female then watches from a tree or a rock as the gathering males fight for dominance, with the winner getting the girl.
Kelly said he plans to go back to China in the early fall in hopes of inking a new deal.
He said there was a "very low probability" that China could take the zoo's pandas back and leave Washington without any of the popular animals.
"Our program has been so successful," he said. "And they're so iconic. And quite frankly, they're a bridge between our two peoples."
He said that if the decision is made to give Washington a new panda or pandas, the switch would probably not be made for a year.
"We have a strong preference for moving the animals in the winter. They like the cold. And . . . we would not want to do it during spring estrus season. There's a chance we could have an exchange this year, but more likely a year from now."
The panda talks are just one item on Kelly's agenda.
The zoo is set to open a large, new Asian elephant compound around Labor Day and is in the process of trying to expand its elephant population.
Kelly said the new compound will be able to accommodate as many as nine elephants. The zoo has three now and is exploring acquiring a fourth. The zoo has also embarked on the construction of a new complex for seals and sea lions.
Kelly was recruited by the Atlanta zoo from an energy company that he said was the largest marketer of clean electricity in the United States.
He said he is fascinated by the intersection of business, the environment and biodiversity.
He has not yet found a favorite animal at the National Zoo, he said, but in Atlanta his favorite was an amiable, six-foot-long eastern indigo snake named Blu.
The snake was beautiful, he said. "If you looked at him from an angle, he looked blue," Kelly said. "If you looked at him from another angle, he looked black.
"I'd pick him up, take him, walk him around," he said. "He kind of died of old age."
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