Panda Stories: Hua Mei
Bifengxia Panda Base
5 August 2008
Among giant panda lovers, a common question we ask of one another is “who is your first panda?” Well, my first panda is Hua Mei, the first giant panda to be born in the US, to survive into adulthood, to be returned to her motherland, and to become a mother.
Hua Mei was born on 21 August 1999. I started watching her on the San Diego Zoo panda webcam when she was around six months old. She was returned to China in early 2004, a return delayed by the SARS epidemic the year before.
During my first volunteer trip – Wolong in September 2007 – she had just given birth to her third set of twins and was in confinement. I’d asked to see her and was told I couldn’t. I was then assigned to help a keeper care for another new mother so I was working in the maternity ward, the same area Hua Mei was staying in. I found out which room she was in and went to see her. On my first visit, Dr Wang, a senior vet, walked by and confirmed that it was Hua Mei in the room. He also didn’t shoo me away and I ended up going to see her everyday I was at Wolong, each time standing by the window and parting the curtain a little so I could catch a glimpse of her. But I didn’t take any pictures.
In August 2008, I went on my second volunteer trip, this time to Bifengxia Panda Base, new home to the majority of Wolong’s pandas after the earthquake on 12 May 2008. I met up with Dr Wang, he remembered I’d asked to see Hua Mei the previous year and took me to see her. She was living on the grounds of the Research Centre, in one of the temporary enclosures put up to accommodate the new residents. Each enclosure had 2 rooms. We walked into her room but it was empty. Dr Wang then took me around the side of the enclosure, to the outdoor yard. And there she was, lying in a sunbathing position – a true California girl! I squatted low to get a better view, called out “Hua Mei” and she turned to look at me. And stayed looking at me long enough for me to take this picture of her.
