Panda Family Tale Part One

Today's guest post is by Travalon - the first part of the story of his red panda family.

Deep in the wilds of the Himilayan region of Sikkim, India lived a happy and close knit red panda family: the parents Grandy and Mandy Panda, along with their three cubs Randy, Andy, and Shandi (oldest to youngest).

One day Grandy went out to search for food for his family along a mountainside. Suddenly, an unexpected landslide came right in his path. Luckily, Grandy climbed up a large solid tree and was safe for the time being. Afraid of another one coming soon, he chose to spend the night up in the tree. 

The next day, all was calm but the path home Grandy had planned to follow was wiped out by fallen branches, rocks and mud. he was confused and lost, not sure what to do or where to go next. No one else was around.

His family had waited up all night for him to come home. They were worried sick assuming he was missing or even dead. Something had to be done. Mandy sent the oldest cub Randy to look for his father. Randy is smart and has a good sense of direction; however as there was no indication which way his father went, he went the opposite way. 

Hours went by and Randy too was lost and alone. Pouring cold rain began coming down too. Two humans who were exploring the area found Randy, looking very scared and shaking leaning against a tree. They were gentle and managed to pick Randy up and carry him to their camp. It turned out they were part of the World Wildlife Fund's Red Panda Rescue team. Randy was fed, cuddled and given a nice warm pen for the night. It was decided he would be eligible for adoption by a caring family in the United States rather than returned to the wild.

Now Mandy and the younger cubs were really worried sick and grieving the possible loss of the two older males in the family. 
There was word of a snow leopard (the ferocious enemy of the red panda) in the area and an avalanche coming in the next few days. It was also the beginning of the peak forest fire season in the area. Mandy had hesitated to send little Andy out to look for his dad and brother, but he was the man of the family for now....

To Be Continued...

Travalon