CHINA TOPIX

11/21/2024 10:39:18 pm

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Bored Panda Gets a TV

A panda that has been suffering from weeks of depression at its foster home was given a television set to stave off its boredom.

Staff at the Yunnan Wild Animal Park said Panda Scarlett began displaying boredom and irritability after the last of its two companions, Panda Macy, was brought back to Sichuan on March 31st.

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Scarlett and Macy, along with Panda Qianqian, had been living at the Yunnan Wild Animal Park since they were displaced from their home in Sichuan when a magnitude 5 earthquake damaged the area in 2008.

Qianqian returned to Sichuan in 2012.  Macy stayed for another couple of years but was likewise brought home to Sichuan last March, leaving Scarlett alone in the Yunnan foster home.

A day after Macy left, park staff said Scarlett did not go back to its room, had not been eating well, and was sometimes grouchy.

The feeder tried to cheer up the panda by talking and playing with it at a fixed time every day, but Scarlett remained inconsolable.

Some Yunnan residents, sensing that Scarlett might be feeling alone and forsaken, suggested that a mirror be installed on the playground, but one apparently can't fool a panda to mistake its own reflection for company.

Other residents suggested installing a swing, a horizontal bar, parallel bars, and a TV near Scarlett's "bed".

The park staff also found some childhood video footage of Scarlett and Macy and played them back for the panda to watch.

So far, Scarlett has been watching the videos while eating and sounding off  a positive response to them.

The staff also placed a big panda model at the place where Macy used to live to keep Scarlett company.

The Yunnan Wild Animal Park staff management and staff are optimistic that the various recreation facilities they installed will help bring back Scarlett's sunny mood, and vowed to keep thinking of new ways to cheer up the depressed panda.

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