After Losing Its Pandas, This Zoo Got Creative

When a Japanese zoo lost its beloved pandas to China, it came up with a creative—and slightly bizarre—solution: let visitors care for staff members dressed in panda costumes.

Adventure World in Wakayama Prefecture launched the “Panda Keeper Experience Tour” after 24-year-old Rauhin and her three daughters returned to China last June, ending a three-decade breeding program that had seen 17 giant pandas born at the park.

Participants don keeper uniforms, enter the bears’ living areas, and perform simulated tasks like “drawing blood” from pandas played by costumed staff re-enacting famous relaxed poses.

Cardboard cutouts of pandas also dot the facility. Zoo officials say the program shares their decades of experience caring for pandas, offering insight into the keepers’ dedication.

One participant, a nurse, noted similarities to human nursing. While the real pandas are gone amid diplomatic tensions, the zoo is preserving their legacy through this innovative tourism revival effort, awarding participants a zookeeper certificate at the end.