An endangered young female red panda named Little Mebo was welcomed to the San Francisco Zoo & Gardens, officials said Friday.
Little Mebo's name was chosen by Kevin Xu, board member of the San Francisco Zoological Society, in honor of his mother and is intended to complement the animal's playful and curious nature.
San Francisco Zoo
The cub was flown from Memphis to San Francisco as part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' red panda conservation plan, said Tanya Peterson, the zoo's board chair and executive director.
Zoological experts “consider several factors before relocating an animal to ensure the genetic diversity of a species,” she said. “The SF Zoo has provided a safe haven for the endangered red panda for several years, and we are honored to be able to offer Little Mebo a home.”
Andrew Poole, the San Francisco Zoo's assistant curator who accompanied Little Mebo on his Southwest Airlines flight from Memphis, said many travelers were able to see the red panda as he rolled his crate through the airport.
“It was hard to keep a low profile as Little Mebo peeked over the bars of the cage door every 30 seconds. Everyone was overjoyed to see her,” Poole said in a statement.
“As the plane climbed to 35,000 feet, I looked into the crate to check on her and saw that she was fine and quietly chewing on some bamboo, enjoying her flight.”
Little Mebo joins the zoo's male cub, Tenzing, and an older female, Hunter, at the red panda treehouse in the zoo's Youth Exploration Area.
Last month, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted for Mayor London Breed’s plan Bringing pandas to the San Francisco Zoo was approved by a vote of 9-2.
The Mayor pushes for panda diplomacy needed the support of the Board of Directors to begin raising the private funds necessary to prepare the panda for the San Francisco Zoo, at an estimated cost of $25 million.
In April last year, the San Diego Zoo announced that it would be getting two new pandas from China after almost all of the giant pandas that had been loaned to US zoos were brought back to the country.
More from CBS News
Read more
