Comments on: Mei Sheng's Welcome at Wolong

By: Joanne Jeffrey

Joanne Jeffrey — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:06:27 +0000

Occasionally I will watch the pandas on the Wolong Panda cam. I am intrigued that several times I have seen keepers in the wide open spaces along with what appears to be 2 year old pandas. On one occasion there were two keepers out with about 5 pandas. One keeper was a female and she was sitting on a platform with her arm around a panda sitting next to her. The other was a male keeper who was standing when a panda stood up behind him and put his paws on the keeper's shoulders. Is this common practice to intermingle with the pandas and up to what age? After all they are " Bears with Claws" no matter are " cute" they are!! Just curious because I know here after a certain age there is always a distance between the pandas and their keepers. Thank you for your response.

By: Susan Harrison

Susan Harrison — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:59:51 +0000

Thank you moderator for the information on Animal Planet's upcoming series on the pandas. I truly hope that a good segment of it will cover Mei Sheng. God bless you all.

By: Sheri

Sheri — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 18:57:53 +0000

Rose #50–It was an incredible experience to hold Jing Jing. For a donation, I was able to hold her and they used
my nephews digital camera and took 11 pictures of me with her. They also told us than that she was the mascot
for the olympic games. The Chengdu facility is only about 1 hour outside of the city. Outside the facility there were several different vendors set up selling everything panda. Our tourguide asked us to please only buy gifts
from the shop inside the facility so that the money went back to help the pandas. I was also able to hold a
Red Panda for a donation.

By: Rachel in NY

Rachel in NY — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 18:08:35 +0000

Thank you, Lisa, for continuing your account of Mei Sheng's arrival. What a 'trooper' he was, to calmly eat and sleep through all the commotion, while spending so much time in a little cage. I hope he is acclimating to his new home.

By: Rose N.

Rose N. — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:08:37 +0000

Sheri #44 & Maureen #45 — You're both welcome.

Sheri, what a thrill it must have been to hold a baby panda (Jing Jing)! Also, what a coincidence - the fact that Jing Jing has become world famous makes your panda encounter even more exciting!

Please google " The Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympics" . Here, you will find an article with five charming caricatures representing China's most popular animals, and one of them is your Jing Jing, very cute.

By: AC in NYC

AC in NYC — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 04:23:03 +0000

#40 Margaret, Robopanda sounds interesting, I will pick one up next time I visit a toy store, ToysRu probably.
#41 Rose, I have marked my calendar for " Growing Up Pandaâ€, thanks.

By: Susan Harrison

Susan Harrison — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:38:32 +0000

thanks again for the next installment, Lisa. It's so hard to believe that our baby boy has been gone a month! I've got pictures of him on my computer screen saver, so I can see him all the time, at least on my desktop!

Since Animal Planet's videographers were present, will there be a video made by Animal Planet and be available for the public in the future?

Do you have any updates from Scott? Did you get to see Hua Mei while in Wolong?

Moderator's note: The Giant Panda Team is working with Animal Planet International on a series about Wolong pandas that will broadcast in 2008 to coincide with the Beijing Olympics. We do not have dates for when Animal Planet will broadcast the program nor do we know when and if Animal Planet will sell the series.

By: Sayuri

Sayuri — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:52:23 +0000

It's hard to believe it's been a month since he left San Diego. I hope he's getting some good back rubs from his Chinese keepers.

By: gloria

gloria — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:20:13 +0000

Thanks again Lisa!

By: Maureen in Michigan

Maureen in Michigan — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:59:19 +0000

#41 Rose- thanks for the news about Growing Up Panda - have marked my calendar.