Vanessa's Journal

Jan. 29

Just when you thought it was starting to get boring around here, today I checked traps with Lao Fan and it was an exciting day. It had snowed so much the day before -- perhaps the most in one day that we have had so far.  So it made for a slippery hike, but also some fun sledding experiences.  It was very powdery snow and at one point I hiked up a slope only to uncontrollably slide down to the bottom again and have to re-hike.  It was also surprisingly sunny out and it made for a beautiful view of the mountains at many points in the Jianpengzi part of the hike.

The most exciting part was when we got up to Jianpengzi and were surprised to find that our second wooden trap was closed.  As far as I can remember, this trap has never been shut by an animal eating the meat inside. So we were pretty excited. Lao Fan was thinking that we had caught a giant panda.  When we got closer to the trap, we saw red panda tracks everywhere and were sure at that point that there must be a red panda inside. Lao Fan peered inside the cage and confirmed that indeed, there was a red panda inside! I peeked in after him and it was an amazing sight.  There was a red panda crouched in the back of the trap near the meat.  It stared back at me with its steely eyes and I was mesmerized.  I couldn’t believe that we had actually captured an animal!

The next task was to open the door to let the red panda run free.  Lao Fan stood on top of the trap and opened the door while I stood in front, ready to capture the moment with the camera.  But it didn’t come out! I think it was afraid to come out with us there.  So I walked up to the trap door again and peered inside to see what it was doing.  There the red panda was, crouched in the back of the trap in the same spot where I saw it before. To me, it looked more confused than frightened.  Again, it stared back at me intently and I was so taken by its unwavering gaze.

I backed up again and Lao Fan decided that the only way to get the red panda out of the trap was to make a noise at the back to entice it out the front door.  So he made a slight noise at the back and he later told me that the red panda growled back at him! I couldn’t hear it from where I stood, but the next thing I knew, the red panda ran out the front door as fast as it could.  And with that, it was off in a bamboo thicket and back into the red panda world.  The whole experience was over in about two minutes, but it seemed much longer than that.

We later surmised that judging from the freshness of the footprints; the red panda had not been in the cage long at all.  It entered the cage in the morning sometime and we got there between 10:00 and 10:30 am. Lao Fan told me that it didn’t even get to eat much of the meat inside before we showed up.  I was relieved that it hadn’t been trapped in there for too long, but at the same time thought it deserved some more meat from the experience.  At first, I was thinking it was a baby.  But I think it was just the sight of seeing such a small animal in a big trap that caught me off guard, as we later realized it was an adult about 4 or 5 years old.  I have no idea if it was a male or female. 

Still on a high from that experience, we continued checking traps.  There was more red panda feces right outside of the third Jianpengzi wooden trap from a few days ago.  In addition, there were fresh red panda tracks all along the trail leading to the first Baiyan trap (for at least 50 meters!).  I couldn’t believe it.  Were we going to catch two red pandas in one day? But it was not to be.  The red panda tracks led all the way up to the front of the trap but not into the trap itself.  I was perplexed. There was so much meat waiting for it inside and yet it decided not to go in. Instead, it ate some of the smaller amounts of meat on the outside of the trap and that was it. 

This Baiyan trap is metal and it is rusting.  Lao Fan was convinced that the red panda would have gone in if it was a wooden trap. I saw his point, especially since this seems like a repeat of some of the things that have been happening at the rusty metal Yaopengzi trap with animals coming up close but not going in.  But at the same time, how does one explain the red panda tracks that were right up close to the third Jianpengzi wooden trap and again, the animal did not go inside? We have also had a number of squirrels, yellow-throated martens, and even leopard cats enter our metal traps.

I am at a loss on this issue. I am concerned about the rust on the metal traps and want to think of something to try to combat that issue.  But I am not how serious of a problem it is and whether it could partly be individual animal behavior tendencies. 

In a way, I am not surprised that we caught an animal today. Last night I was having trouble sleeping.  I kept getting this image in my head of a giant panda inside of a trap and I had this overwhelming fear of it not being able to breathe in there. It was such an irrational insomnia moment, as there are plenty of air holes in all of the traps.  Therefore I am not sure where that was coming from.  But anyway I could not get my mind off of that image.  I told Lao Fan and Lao Wang about it today after we caught the red panda and they insisted that I politely remind my ‘spirit guides’ that I am in fact trying to catch a giant panda, in case they are confused.  However, I am very grateful for our new red panda friend who gave us a newfound sense of hope. 

After we got back today, we had a talk about safety around wild animals, which I think is such an important discussion to have. Both Lao Fan and I think that the interaction that we had with the red panda was appropriate, in the sense that I think we both displayed respect for the animal as well as consideration for our own safety. Lao Fan wanted to make sure that I understood that the way we behaved today was reflective of the fact that this was a red panda and that we should be more vigilant and maintain a greater distance from the animal if we catch a wild giant panda, due to its larger size and strength. 

I completely agreed. I think people tend to have this false sense of security around giant pandas because they look so cuddly. In reality, they are wild animals, and they are very powerful creatures. If you do not respect them, they could cause great harm to you. I know at least one person associated with captive pandas who has life-long injuries from aberrant conflicts while handling them. There are always cases of reporters who want to get close to the pandas and do so at the expense of their own safety with disastrous results. I don’t see this side of the giant panda’s behavior as a negative; rather I respect the fact that giant pandas are wild animals that need to be able to defend themselves and their resources. They are not the same as one’s pets. 

In all of the cases I have heard about trapping giant pandas, they wake up from anesthesia and run away from people off into the bamboo by themselves.  I expect this to be the scenario when we catch a panda, but it is nonetheless important to exercise caution and maintain a respectful and safe distance from the animal.  I also want to emphasize the fact that we have trained veterinarians from our host institution, the China Center for Research and Conservation of the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) who are responsible for animal welfare and all protocols involving direct interactions with the giant pandas, once we trap a panda.  Therefore, when it comes to animal welfare, I am an observer and I must listen to the directives of the trained animal caretakers for the safety of both myself and the animals.

My field assistants have a view of red pandas being a precursor to giant pandas in the field. This comes from their migration patterns, which are locally similar, yet the red panda seems to always be a little bit ahead of the giant panda.  Therefore, I have long thought that if we wanted to catch a giant panda, we would have to successfully catch a red panda first. We have done that today, so I feel optimistic about going forward with the rest of the trapping season.  We’ll see what happens.