Looking after my sick dad at the hospital about a week ago, I bought myself a copy of Reader's Digest's April 2010 issue to while away the time and remedy the boredom. Another worthy read as I expected. But aside from the always hilarious humor sections, there were two major articles that I really liked: one about pandas, and the other about former lab chimps.
For the Love of Pandas
The panda article was a real joy, if only for the pictures that came along with it. Seriously, can those pandas be even more adorable? (No, I'm not gonna be posting pics here of the cute pandas. I suggest you buy the magazine yourself or click this link.) The story was about a Panda conservation center in China, as well as the conservationists who work there, whose heroics efforts are helping to increase the pandas' chances of escaping extinction. You'll get to read about the everyday goings-on in the place, as well as a brief glimpse of what life is like not just for the pandas but for the caretakers as well.
Retirement Refuge
On the flipside, the chimp story was a sad but not hopeless one. As a lot of us probably know by now, chimps are almost genetic twins of humans, with them possessing no less than 98.7% of DNA similar to ours - the strongest reason why they were often used in laboratories as test stand-ins for us. We can only just imagine the cruelty these animals had to go through and, when their use has been fully exploited, how they were simply left for dead. The story tells of a chimpanzee refugee center in Canada whose mission is to adopt these poor abandoned chimps and give them a nice comfortable home away from the human cruelty they grew accustomed to.
There is always a feeling of certain sadness every time I get to read articles such as these. I could only hope that as more and more people get to know about the plight of these animals, more actions will be made will be made to better not just their lives but ours as well.
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More information about the panda conservation center may be found here.
More information about the chimpanzee sanctuary may be found here.
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2 comments:
I didn't know our DNA was that similar to chimps. Amazing. Isn't animal testing illegal or to a certain extent only?
And those pandas are adorable. :)
According to the article, the UK, Belgium, the Balearic Islands, Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan have all banned or limited research on chimps. Canada so far has no standing law banning it. The US is still set to pass a bill prohibiting it. And as far as I know, RP has no law regarding it whatsoever. We do have some general anti-animal cruelty laws if I remember correctly though.
And yes, the pandas are so cute! I wish I could adopt one but that might be counterproductive to the conservation efforts. =P *sends virtual hug to the nearest existing panda*
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