This is the continuation from a story we started earlier this week : a wonderful account from a panda keeper at CCRCGP. It continues:. At p. You could see that he had lost the strength to even open his eyes. He just curled up motionlessly on the straw mat we prepared for him. That night, I was the only one scheduled to be on duty.
In the office, we all waited and waited for him to wake up. In order to keep things as quiet as possible, I was the only one who left the office to watch him inside the enclosure. Each time I checked on him, I quietly got close to him, looking at him with so much love as if he was my own child. He was a skeleton of an adult panda with missing limbs. The stitches on his wounds were acutely visible. Some senile plaque could be seen on his nose. He was so thin that only his fur was left to cover his body.
Time passed and Qiang Qiang was still in a coma. My tears came again. He weakly looked around, still instinctively prepared to fight any unknown dangers. I was so happy. I wiped my tears and ran to the office to report the good news. The atmosphere in the office was still bleak. Everyone frowned. An old keeper deep in thought with a burned up cigarette still in his hand. A vet was holding his head in his hands looking defeated. The leaders were sitting together in quiet conversation.
When they heard the news that Qiang Qiang had just woken up, everyone looked even more nervous. Director Zhang told us to immediately feed Qiang Qiang, offering him nutritious liquid and bamboo shoots. Experienced keepers knew that what he would need most after his long travels was water. And that, after surgery, what he needed most was nutrition. Teacher Zhou approached me and cautioned me to be careful. Qiang Qiang is from the wild. You must be very careful when going inside the enclosure.
When Qiang Qiang saw me getting close to him, he instinctively became more alert and curled up to get ready to protect himself from the enemy. When I saw this, I slowly squatted, put down the nutrient rich liquid on the ground and then quietly pushed it to a place where he could reach it. I then slowly moved back and squatted about 2 meters away from him where it was safer to watch and showed him that I was friendly. He looked at me for quite a while to be sure that I was not enemy and then, tempted by the scent, began drinking.
