Zoo Staff Pretend to Be Pandas and Are Fed by Visitors After Park’s 4 Bears Are Given New Homes in China

Staff at a zoo in Japan are going to great lengths to try and fill the void left by one of its departed animals after its final four pandas had to return to China.

In honor of their lost bears, workers at Adventure World amusement park and zoo in Wakayama, which is south of Osaka, have been sporting panda face hats and being fed by zoo visitors, according to a new report from U.K. newspaper The Times and the South China Morning Post.

The park, which had to give back its final four pandas in June 2025, offers visitors the chance to join their “Panda Love Club” for the price of $50 (8,000 yen), The Times reported.

People will be allowed to dress up as a zookeeper and “experience a program that mimics actual animal care work, such as preparing meals, observing behavior, filling out daily reports and checking the safety of the exercise area,” the park said, per the outlet.

The 90-minute session also allows visitors to feed caged zookeepers, who are dressed up as pandas, with apple pieces.

“This special attraction will allow visitors to learn about the relationship between pandas and care staff … and experience the significance of passing on the lives of giant pandas to the future,” the park continued, per The Times.

Adventure World has been involved in the protection and breeding of giant pandas in both Japan and China for more than 30 years, per its website.

PEOPLE has contacted Adventure World for comment.

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January will mark the first month Japan has been without pandas since 1972, according to The Times. The country’s last two pandas — twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, who are in Ueno Zoo in Tokyo — are set to return to China later in January, per the outlet and the South China Morning Post.

There are no plans to replace Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, according to The Times.

The departure of pandas from Japan comes amid increasing hostility between the country and China that has seen Beijing suspend some food imports, block Japanese pop music and cancel concerts by Japanese performers, according to The Times.

China has a history of loaning out its pandas to allies in what has been called panda diplomacy, per Reuters. The pandas typically return to China following the end of the loan agreement.

According to The Times, China has gifted or lent more than 30 pandas to Japan since 1972.