The Panda—it has to be one of the world’s most beloved cuddly animals, doesn’t it? It’s cute, it’s furry, and it’s dying out rapidly: three of the ingredients any endangered animal worth its salt needs to be at the top of the charts.

This story really put a downer on my day: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8497973.stm

I could empathize with the two Panda’s in question, since I too had moved to a foreign country and started a new life. How cruel, I thought. How will these two Panda’s from the U.S. survive in China?

I mean, human beings find it difficult enough to handle learning Chinese, but to ask a Panda to learn it–That just seems like a ludicrous amount of stress to heap onto an already endangered, stressed out animal! It would be better if the Panda’s were too stupid to be affected, but the sad truth of the matter is that they are highly intelligent, and as such facing a rocky road ahead.

And the worst thing according to the story is this: the Chinese say they can’t guarantee they will be able to find a translator to help the Panda’s settle in. So what does that mean? That means that all the training the Panda’s underwent in the U.S.—they were trained to understand hand-signals—could be for nothing! To my mind that is nothing less than horribly tragic.

And Panda’s don’t exactly have a lot of ways at their disposal to vent their rage, do they? It’s not as if they can write things down when they feel upset, or scream out. To the Chinese visitors that will probably just seem like the Panda’s are enjoying themselves. And the more the Panda’s scream and shout the more the visitors will scream and shout, making more come by the bus-full! It really is terrible; I can’t imagine what must be running through the poor Panda’s minds right now.

Good luck Panda’s!

So, as you all know, it is my birthday tomorrow and in case you are pondering what to buy me (that means you Chris) I have been thinking a lot about that dvd set for Twin Peaks, just in case you couldn’t think of anything…