Giant pandas making public debut at San Diego Zoo

Big day at the San Diego Zoo where two pandas are making their public debut. Eyewitness News reporter Tony Cabrera live with a preview. Hey Tony, happy panda day. Happy California panda day. Happy panda day, yes. California panda day. That's the official day by Governor Newsom that he declared. So yes, reason to celebrate. And it's a big deal because for the first time in 21 years, pandas have entered the U.S. and they are in San Diego at the zoo down there. So it's really historic. It represents a positive step forward in U.S.-China relations despite several disputes of course. San Diego and a few other zoos had pandas up until 2019, but China's panda diplomacy program is back and people are excited to meet the giant pandas. The female panda's name is Xing Bao, which means new treasure of prosperity and abundance. She's almost four years old and can be spotted by her large round face and big fluffy ears. She's described as an inquisitive, smart and a tad shy. The male panda's name is Yun Xuan, which means big river of cloud. Yun is almost five years old. He's the one with the long, slightly pointed nose and is more laid back. Fans can't wait to meet him. I've been a zoo member since like 1995, but I grew up here so I was here when the pandas first came and then I told my kids. This will be the third time we've been to San Diego and visited. We like seeing the pandas. That's one of the reasons to come. And as you can imagine, there's great demand to see these creatures in the new Panda Ridge exhibit. So there's going to be a big line of course, but you have some options. There's the standby line. No tickets needed. You just have to wait. Then there's the free timed ticket for the experience, which you can reserve when you arrive by scanning a QR code. There's a limit on those though. It's first come first serve basis. And finally the early morning with pandas walking tour, an hour long exclusive viewing event, which ranges from $92 to $115. Of course, going to be a lot of traffic in the weeks ahead as people are coming out to see these pandas, people coming from probably all over just to see them.