China Running Out of Panda Caretakers Despite Hundreds of Applicants

A giant panda reserve in China has been unable to locate a single candidate for panda caretaker jobs, emphasizing the rigorous effort needed to nurture the animals. A site manager claims caring for the cute mammals requires much more than feeding and petting them.

(Photo : ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP via Getty Images)

A Particularly Challenging Task

The challenges of keeping giant pandas in captivity are in the headlines after a Chinese zoo reported that despite receiving hundreds of applications for panda keeper positions, it could not find any qualified applicants, according to SCMP.

Jiangsu Province in eastern China's Nanshan Mountain Bamboo Scenery Zone informed the Modern Express that panda caretakers recruitment had been a "headache" for years due to a shortage of qualified candidates.

The panda rearing facility and an unspecified number of pandas will each have a 1,000-square-meter enclosure in the tour area.

Being a panda keeper is more complicated than most people realize and entails much more than just feeding and playing with them, according to a manager at the tour zone. He continued by saying that the position requires high standards for charisma, professionalism, and observational abilities.

Also Read: Evolutionary History Shows How Pandas Survived for Centuries on Bamboos Alone

Many Qualifications

(Photo : Getty Images)

According to the manager, who would not give their name, "there are many specific needs for a keeper during the raising of pandas, such as weighing their feces, observing the pandas' moods, and distributing bamboo by scattering it around and leaving it in an upright position."

"We discovered that only a few candidates met our standards, maybe because of the high threshold. The manager stated they needed panda keepers with degrees in livestock rearing or veterinary medicine who are patient and responsible. So far, they have yet to be hired.

They must be animal lovers. The manager stated that it would be advantageous if you had prior zookeeping expertise.

The recruitment issue at the panda sanctuary has generated a lot of discussion among mainland internet users, with the news article earning more than 120 million views on Weibo.

One person joked that the post of panda keeper was the hardest job in the world and had a standard that was "too high a bar to be reached."

Another individual remarked, "I believe the zoo should value a panda keeper's compassion and patience more than his academic degrees." Ma Tao, a giant panda keeper at the Beijing Zoo with more than three decades of experience, said his position necessitates daring and attention to detail.

"Animals are mute. We can only determine what they desire by carefully observing them, as their keepers do," Ma told the Shanghai Morning Post.

"You interact with animals so that you may get to know them, and they can get to know you. A panda's answer would indicate whether it was fearful, on guard, or at ease. Its language must be read, he insisted.

Nonetheless, Ma noted that being around pandas is still dangerous. He claimed that while "sweet" photos of a panda hugging a keeper's legs recently went viral on social media, the behavior could be risky and cause the keeper harm, according to Pet Keen.

"It might pounce on you. Even though a panda's teeth are little when one bites you, it hurts," he remarked.

Pandas in Captivity

China's National Forestry and Grassland Agency estimates that 673 pandas are kept in captivity today, most of them in China. Over 1,800 giant pandas are thought to be living in the wild, according to experts.