Lonette, Queenie and Pandalover, thanks for the great scaps. Loved their play session in the yard.

Hélène, thank you so much for posting the Lani update! I have such mixed feelings! I'm so sad for Heather that she has to leave Lani , but so happy to hear that Heather thinks she'll be okay! And such wonderful news that Bonnie is there, so Lani will have a familiar face, someone who speaks English! And as a bonus we'll get updates on Lani till mid March from Bonnie!

Thanks Helene for posting that update. I'm sad Heather is leaving too but no doubt she has family she needs to get back too and a life back home. The comment about Lani 'starting' to respond to her new keeper doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies but I guess it's better than she is not responding. I sure hope Lani will be okay with Heather not being there...

I'm glad Bonnie is there and hope we get regular updates.

As for our little Lan, I watched him this morning when I had time and peeked in this afternoon between work and he looks so lost in the mornings without Lun...almost like he's counting the time til he sees her..

I'm just going to bite my tongue...here is the link to the translation and a strange looking photo of our Lani posted by a flickr user. I hope she can feel all the love coming to her from across the ocean and all over the world!

Mai Lan scare by firecrackers - Latest news of Mei Lan - 20th Feb

http://www.flickr.com/photos/poyee_lam0321/4371791782/

:cry1::cry1::cry1:

Quote by: Lonette

:cry1::cry1::cry1:

At least the reports this week froom Heather after the celebrations were much better and encouraging. It bothers me that the media focuses on her reaction to noise, whereas Tai is portrayed as the 'tough, brave guy' - which he is and I love him dearly but our Southern Belle is just behaving like any lady would!

Ladies know that crude loud noises are an assualt to the ears...one's home must be tranquil and peaceful as befitting a special princess :nod:. She needs quiet to ponder which of her eight suitors she might consider - it's a big decision that requires serious thought

Just a note to say that I won't be here anymore. Not for reasons that most of you may think, but because I have been terribly upset over Lani being sent to China totally unprepared and I personally don't want to be around when our little X-man has to go thru the same torture. I've been thinking about it since the first day Lani was snatched from her home and dumped into another country and all that she's had to endure because of that. Yes, we all knew she'd eventually have to go back to China (something I am against since they have PLENTY of babies in their nursery to eventually breed and keep the panda bear population increasing), but this was my first (and last) time of seeing how the transition goes about. I had written to Zoo Atlanta asking WHY they do things this way but not ONE person would answer my questions. That shows me they have NO concern for the public, lousy public relations, and just do what they're told without any concern whatsoever regarding the pandas. They take excellent care of them here but once they have to send them back, they do nothing to prepare them for what they're about to go thru. I was VERY happy to know that Heather would at least go over with Lani and somewhat keep her company for a few weeks, trying to get her accustomed to her new surroundings. And now Bonnie will be there for a few more weeks. Then, Lani is on her own. Granted her new keeper "seems" to be a very nice lady and cares for Lani, but everything now will be Chinese to Lani. For 3 of her learning years, Lani was taught her routines by us and she became very adapted to that. Without a second thought, she was put into a crate, flown half way around the world scared to death, put into a new environment with new people, a new language, new food, new noises....and basically told to get over it. To me, that is cruelty to animals. I see NO reason why Zoo Atlanta didn't plan months ahead for this move and have Lani's new keeper come over here to teach her the language along with Heather, bring over the new boo and treats to get used to and do whatever else necessary to make the transition more comfortable for her. It's as if they stripped her of everything she knew, all at the same time. How humane is that? Oh sure, she'll adjust, but look what she's had to go thru. And Xi Lan will have to go thru the same thing unless the zoo is forced to change their procedures and care more for these poor little animals. It's hard enough on us to watch the little ones get weaned from their mothers and then never to see them again, but that (they say) is part of nature. But at least it's done in an area they've grown up in. When it comes time to ship them off, that's when it becomes cruel, in my eyes anyway. All of this could have been prevented by planning for it months ahead of time and slowly changing the habits over to the Chinese way of doing things. But it wasn't, and that's what's so devastating to me. In a way, I wish I hadn't been such a big part of getting the cam back up because without it, I wouldn't have fallen in love with these little guys and not known what their destiny would be, virtually in person. I kept hearing Lani was going back to where her mom and dad and their heritage had started. Who cares? Did they really think Lani would know all her ancestors and be fine with the move? Give me a break! The US has done a fantastic job of raising these pandas and I only wish an agreement could be reached with China to let us keep all the babies that are born here. Does it really matter what country they are in as long as we keep the pandas alive and thriving and off the endangered list? It makes no sense to me as to why China insists on getting the little ones back. As I said, they're breeding them like crazy over there so let the US keep what we have and stop the torment they have to go thru just so they're in their "home country" again. These babies were born HERE so they should be considered US citizens. Obviously China doesn't care what my thoughts are, and I haven't heard yet that the zoos are trying to make a deal to keep the babies here, so it looks like you will have to go thru this every few years as they are taken from us. I just can't do it anymore.
Thanks for listening to my vent. Good bye! Donell

awww Neets, I hate losing another panda pal. I certainly understand how you feel and hope you change your mind later. I've only been on this forum and found out about the cams back in December but I have always loved panda bears. I'm grateful for all the news, videos and scaps I've found here and hope there are many more. I will miss all of the babies that go to China in the future but will just enjoy them while they are here. I wish they could stay too but that is not the agreement made when the mommas and daddys were sent here. Perhaps in the future when the panda population has increased enough in China, then maybe China will rethink the agreements and allow us to keep them. I really hope so.