Report: $86M Sent to China to Protect Pandas Went Elsewhere

Pandas are cute, cuddly, and, it turns out, an important distraction from the fact that tens of millions of dollars raised by US zoos to fund the protection of wild giant pandas instead went to essentially whatever projects Chinese officials decided. That's according to a New York Times investigation, which tracked more than $86 million sent to two government organizations in China. The funds, paid to China to secure loans of pandas for US zoos, are to cover wild panda conservation under US law. But two decades of financial reports and other records show the money has instead been spent on captive pandas, buildings and roads far from nature reserves, museums, and even satellite TV for government offices.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the payments—typically a $1 million annual fee per panda pair— long ago raised concerns. On three separate occasions, the US government froze payments to China over incomplete records on how the money was spent. Chinese officials have reportedly taken the view that the money is theirs to spend as they wish. Knowing this, US zoos, which earn big money and media attention from visiting pandas, urged regulators to keep the money flowing without such thorough checks, the Times reports. Ultimately, the FWS agreed, allowing zoos to approve Chinese funding proposals directly.

The FWS says it requires "sufficiently detailed financial accounting data" from zoos that host pandas. But the change meant Chinese officials got away with less detailed reporting, or sometimes no reporting at all. The Memphis Zoo admitted it "was not able to control the funding that was sent to China." Publicly, however, US zoos claim the funds are saving pandas in the wild. Some, like Melissa Songer, a conservation biologist at the National Zoo, argue China is spending money to stop logging and invest in panda protections. But that's not always the case, per the Times. It notes money has also gone to developing tourism around nature reserves, infiltrating the pandas' habitat. (More giant pandas stories.)