This article is about 9 years old

Giant panda Mei Xiang celebrates 17th birthday at National Zoo

WASHINGTON – Forget, “Don’t feed the animals.” Let them eat cake!

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo is celebrating a big birthday Wednesday.

Giant panda Mei Xiang just turned 17 years old.

The zoo delivered her a frozen cake to celebrate.

Don’t worry, the treat was “panda friendly.”

The zoo tweeted the announcement Wednesday afternoon:

Jason Fraley

Hailed by The Washington Post for “his savantlike ability to name every Best Picture winner in history," Jason Fraley began at WTOP as Morning Drive Writer in 2008, film critic in 2011 and Entertainment Editor in 2014, providing daily arts coverage on-air and online.

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