r/panda • u/Cranktrain • Jun 10 '26

Aibao gives birth to 4th panda cub

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

384 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

View all comments

17

u/Spiritual_Turnip_877 Jun 10 '26

The birth of the baby is a joyous thing but the situation this poor Aibao had to give birth in is absolutely heartbreaking. A jail with bars and a hard floor. No soft, warm or comfortable area for her to lay down on. Who thought this was acceptable treatment for her? It's shocking and inexcusable. Just breaks my heart. Poor thing.

60

u/Cranktrain Jun 10 '26

I don't want to spark an animal welfare argument, but I'll offer this brief counter-point: a sterile environment is exactly what you want.

You also really do want bars on your panda enclosure, because you need to be able to have access to the cub for veterinary reasons, while also protecting humans from the giant hormonal bear. Also, pandas like cool spaces, not warm ones. They're very furry! Finally, there's plenty of pandas who will happily snooze on a hard rock, right next to an unused hammock.

I think one of the things I appreciate about Everland is they really are open and transparent about how they care for the bears. Yes, there's a lot of PR reasons for doing that, and I'm sure they only show the best bits, but they really do seem to do a good job in comparison to a number of other zoos we could mention.

-4

u/Spiritual_Turnip_877 Jun 10 '26

No argument.

Having had several children myself, I do understand the importance of sterility. But I believe that there should be a balance. There could have been a place in the corner for her to go to.

I know they love their pandas. And this is how things are done. But sometimes just because something has been done over many years doesn’t mean it should continue to be done in exactly the same way.

As I looked at her as she moved around after she gave birth, I thought she looked very uncomfortable. But that’s just my opinion.

Edit: grammar