Today, House Committee on Natural Resource Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Director Martha Willams on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) misuse of American donor funds intended for panda conservation. In part, the members wrote:

"China’s effort to dupe zoos and American donors into paying for infrastructure development and other projects unrelated to wildlife conservation under the guise of "save the pandas" is unsurprising. China is "widely recognized as the world’s largest market for trafficked wildlife products." Beyond China’s domestic demand for illegal wildlife products, the Chinese government’s own wildlife-related regulatory scheme "creates opportunities for the illicit wildlife trade to flourish." Moreover, recent Chinese zoo scandals highlight the lack of seriousness with which China approaches conservation and wildlife education. In 2024, a Chinese zoo came under fire for painting Chow Chow dogs black and white in attempt to pass them off to visitors as pandas.  After initially trying to fabricate a new animal called a “panda dog,” the Chinese zoo was forced to admit its scam. Comically, China’s dismal reputation for animal conservation is so well-known that, in 2023, it was forced to publicly deny that a Southeast Asian sun bear on display at a zoo was a man in a bear suit. 

“What is most surprising, however, is FWS’s eagerness to surrender ESA-related regulatory duties to zoos and to the Chinese government given the agency’s history of ruling over the ESA with an iron first. Although the purpose of listing species under the ESA is to aid in their recovery and delist the animals, FWS has historically worked relentlessly to keep species listed indefinitely. FWS’s disingenuous ESA enforcement and deference to the Chinese government deeply troubles the Committee."

To read the full letter, click here. 

Background

Giant Pandas are native to China and are loaned to zoos around the world as a part of a conservation lease program with the Chinese government. In November 2024, the New York Times reported that money earmarked for conservation, most of which came from American donors, was instead used to fund Chinese infrastructure projects. The Committee has been presented with additional information confirming the New York Times’ reporting, finding that the CCP duped American donors and that USFWS, responsible for oversight of the panda loan program, looked the other way. Specifically, USFWS did not maintain proper oversight of the funds provided to the CCP for the panda program and rubberstamped illicit payments to China.