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CNN Live At Daybreak

Panda Mania Breaks Out at Washington's National Zoo

Aired July 16, 2001 - 08:57   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Baseball great Yogi Berra immortalized that famous line "It's deja vu all over again." Well, this time it applies to Washington's National Zoo.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: It sure did and CNN's Patty Davis tells us the panda mania and how it's busting out all over the place.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ever since their debut six months ago at Washington's National Zoo the giant pandas Mei Xiang and Tian Tian have been on a roll. The pandas on loan from China are packing in the crowds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I came here to see the zoo and maybe the pandas.

DAVIS: So have nearly 1.7 million others. Zoo officials are predicting their best year in a decade.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're so cute.

DAVIS: Cute and profitable. Food and gift shop sales are setting records.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at these pandas.

DAVIS: Everything from panda lunch boxes to panda toasters to this stuffed panda -- the zoo's biggest seller.

BOB HOAGE, NATIONAL ZOO SPOKESMAN: So far for the first five months of this year the sale of food and souvenirs has reached 4.8 million, which is quite substantial compared to our previous best year in 1998, which was 2.9 million for the first five months.

DAVIS: The zoo is paying China $1 million a year for 10 years for the pandas. That and all panda related profits go toward conservation of the giant panda in China.

The National Zoo has experienced panda mania before. Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing were also big draws when they were given to the zoo by China in 1972. Both died in the 1990s.

This time zoo officials say they're managing these young pandas differently. Instead of keeping the cold weather-loving pandas indoors during Washington's hot summer . . . LISA STEVENS, SR. CURATOR, NATIONAL ZOO: We want to give them choices and let them decide how they want keep cool. So when you look at their outdoor enclosure now they have misting systems and fogging systems. They have the water pools. We also created specially designed grottoes -- one is air-conditioned.

DAVIS: So far zoo officials say Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are oblivious to their new found fame. The crowds on the other hand are anything but.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the best show they've ever put on.

DAVIS: Patty Davis, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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