WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- There was frosted cake for all, but the birthday boy and girl preferred the less calorific option of ice hunks filled with fruit wedges.
The National Zoo's pandas, Tian Tian and Mei Xiang, celebrated their fifth and fourth birthdays Thursday with over 1,200 visitors, mostly young children and their mothers. A local bakery donated 10 large cakes to the zoo in their honor, which were wolfed down by the guests, many of whom just simply happened to be there at the right time.
"This is wonderful. I had no idea we'd be so lucky to be here on their birthday," said Marina Schneider, who came to see the animals despite the scorching heat with her two-year-old son, Jason.
Since they were flown over from China in December 2000, the black-and-white pandas have been by far the most popular attraction at the zoo, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution. But because the zoo charges no admission fee, the 20 percent increase in visitors to 400,000 a year have not translated to an immediate increase in profits.
Yet the zoo has needed to be particularly cautious about the bottom line, especially concerning the pandas, as they are not the property of the Smithsonian, but rather are on loan from the Chinese government at $1 million each year for 10 years.
Given that costs to maintain the pandas, from housing to staff fees, reached $3.3 million, paying another $1 million to the Chinese government is no mean feat for the cash-strapped institution.
In order to fray some of the hefty costs, the zoo tied up with two private companies on an unprecedented scale.
"Some Smithsonian museums have had problems with that, but fortunately, that has not been the case with us," a zoo official said on condition of anonymity. "It's been a very positive experience."
When the pandas first came to Washington, there were concerns that Fuji Photo Film Inc. putting forward $7.8 million and broadcasters Animal Planet giving $5 million to support the pandas could somehow compromise the zoo's autonomy.
But according to the zoo, that has been far from the case.
In return for the initial contribution, and other assistance such as providing panda zoologists with pricey photographic equipment, and covering a significant amount of the animals' medical costs, Fuji is guaranteed to have its company mentioned in any event related to the zoo.
The corporate plaque also is proudly display at the panda house, where Tien Tien and Mei Xiang live, which is now incidentally called the Fuji film giant panda conservation habitat.
And so for the film manufacturer, the hefty price of keeping the notoriously finicky bears happy is worth it.
"It's a valuable opportunity for us," said Craig White, Fuji's vice president of government and legal affairs. "We would have never passed it up."
So satisfied are they with their first sponsorship of any particular animal, that Fuji distributed disposable cameras to all the birthday visitors so they could share the panda moment with family and friends when they got home.
As for cable channel Animal Planet, the company has secured exclusive rights to produce three documentaries on the universally loved bears through their half-a-million contribution.
So far, the network has produced one hour-long documentary on how the pandas were brought over from China to the United States. But the timing and even the content of the next two programs are still up in the air.
"We have rights to two more documentaries...we'd like one to be about how a baby's born," said Ali Shapiro, marketing director of Animal Planet. "And maybe another one about the baby itself."
She pointed out that given the company was limited to two more program rights, it had to be careful about "not using them up before something major really happened."
The problem, however, is that the pandas don't seem to be in any hurry themselves to have children.
"They get along well...but we still can't say when any babies will be coming along," said the zoo's director Lucy Spelman.
Granted, any offspring that the pandas do have will belong to China, and it is likely that the zoo will have to given them back to the Chinese government.
Yet, given that pandas are an endangered species and having pandas being born under captivity such a rarity, a baby panda being born would be a major coup for the zoo, not to mention the pandas' corporate sponsors.
The pandas themselves, however, seemed oblivious to any financial concerns or pressures to procreate, or indeed the celebrations going on outside their pen. Mei Xing was happy to hug onto the ice block with chunks of fruit wedged in, while Tien Tien hovered around her, more interested in playing rather than eating.
For them, it was just another hot summer day at the zoo.
