Adopt a Panda
It’s time to do more than “oo” and “ah” at pictures of cute pandas. I’ve decided to adopt one.
The National Zoo at Washington, DC has an “Adopt a Species” programme for different animals, including giant pandas, which helps support the care of more than 2,400 animals at the National Zoo and its Conservation and Research Centre. However, I want something closer to home. I’m adopting from Wolong.
Enter Pandas International. This is a non-profit organisation that I found from one of the many panda sites I visit. I signed up for their monthly newsletters, and I’ve also bought various panda-related items from them before. They, too, have an “Adopt a Panda” programme, and it is this programme that I have decided to put my money in. Unlike the National Zoo, Pandas International “Adopt a Panda” programme goes towards helping the giant pandas in their motherland, China, at the Wolong Panda Research or the Bifengxia Center, both in southern China’s Sichuan Province.
I have been in touch with the Director of Pandas International to discuss ways of funding my contribution. I can’t give the full amount one-off, and I have written to ask if I can make monthly contributions. She has replied that I can, and I will now be finalising arrangements.
I have a particular panda in mind that I want to adopt. She was born on 23 August (less than a week ago), the older of a pair of twins born to Fei Fei.
Every panda cub born in the world is special, but this one is extra-special.
