I almost feel dirty writing this post. Did you hear the story about the panda Xiang Xiang who died in the wild? Apparently he was raised captive for three years. The keepers of this panda were puzzled because, as they put it, "Xiang Xiang... had been trained to build a den, forage for food and mark his territory. He also developed defensive skills such as howling and biting."
Color me cynical, but how in the name of all things panda does a keeper teach a panda how to build a den? Forage for food? And the defensive skills... howling and biting... how exactly does a human teach an animal to use these methods of defense? Tell me some poor soul didn't dress up like a panda and spray panda smell on him in order to teach Xiang Xiang to fight. Then they release the panda to the wild, massaging his shoulders like a fighter in a ring: "You are a WILD panda. You're WILD, man. Now GO!"
The situation is grim, of course. A cute yet surly male panda is released into the wild following a Tarzanesque captivity and expected to live. He does, for one year, and is attacked by REAL wild pandas. Can you imagine this poor frightened creature trying to make it? I can imagine this panda's thinking: "That's funny, Keeper Joe always left shoots of bamboo for me behind this bush and ... whoa... holy panda stampede. Run, Xiang Xiang! Run! Was it howl for 'hello' or howl for 'I'm the alpha male'? Don't hurt me! I'm a National Endowment!"
I told you I felt dirty writing this. Such a sad waste. I'm not an activist by any means, but this article saddened me.
2 comments:
Yeah -- that's rough, especially for the trainers who spent so long teaching the poor creature to do something that would have been a basic instinct.
Then again, I think I'll always smile when I think of Xiang Xiang running from his angry fellows.
When I'm in the food court, in front of "Panda Express", that is.
Har Har Har!!
This is my blog, buddy. Not yours. Poopie.
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