BEARSCARE

On Thursday, February 4th, 2010, a giant panda was removed by the People’s Republic of China from the National Zoo in Washington, DC. The panda, named Tai Shan, by popular vote, was the first of the species to be born on America soil and is considered by many to have citizen status. The PRC laid claim on Tai Shan, however, arguing primarily that, since Tai Shan’s parents where in Washington on loan, he inherited Chinese ownership.

“Look, we really didn’t want to rock the boat,” commented Raul Jimenez, an unofficial White House spokesman. He continued, “you bet they were up late evaluating options. Apparently some very high ranking officials used strong, sometimes vulgar, language in expressing their disapproval over the deal.” Although Mr. Jimenez would not comment as to whether President Obama or his family were involved in the discussions, he did quote the president as stating “all options are still on the table, people, including complete, resolute and absolute refusal to turn over Tai Shan,” at around 8 PM Wednesday night.

Tai Shan will be missed. An unworthy tribute follows:

Goodbye, Tai Shan; we will miss you. Spread the American Dream in your new home.

Did you know pandas bite? Well, it turns out they do. A student from the south of China broke into a panda cage to try to coax the animal into hugging him, according to the AP. The kid didn’t get a hug, though. Nope, he got LIT UP by the panda. Let this be a lesson to everyone who wants panda hugs: you need to know what you’re doing and know your panda first. Here’s what the scene probably looked like:

And here’s a link to the story: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,456447,00.html

Today we went to the zoo in DC. Here is an incomplete list of animals we saw and my personal feelings on them:

1. Pandas – AWESOME
2. Lions – sweet
3. Tigers – similar to lions
4. Anaconda – scary/sweet
5. King Cobra – deadly (stay away from these)
6. Prairie dog – opposite of (5)
7. Elephants – Very large and friendly. These were the Asiatic variety.
8. Cow – I felt bad about my lunch
9. Orang utan – Me 10,000,000 – 100,000,000 years ago
10. HIPPO – wet

This is amazing. Two new pandas have been born in China. They look like this (courtesy of National Geographic):

Here’s the video: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2008/08/15/vo.china.panda.ap

Pandas are probably the most popular bear in the world but the suffer from low libido/ED. So, it isn’t surprising that panda cubs are few and far between. And that makes it even more exciting when one is born. Today is a happy day, my friends. A really happy one.

As the most comprehensive and well respected bear-oriented webpage in the universe, it is our honor to introduce bear lovers worldwide to Fu Long:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsaddsO4okc&rel=1]