saying good-bye to atlanta’s beauty.
mei lan chewing on some bamboo
mei lan was born on september 6, 2006. i’d been in atlanta for a little over a year and half at the time and the pandas’s arrival also corresponded with my beginning to feel at home here in the south. for that reason i have always had a soft spot for this gorgeous, round cheeked animal.
when her brother xi lan was born, i made the investment in a zoo atlanta membership and i go often to look at these animals. will i love young p, i will confess that mei lan is my favorite. i can sit and watch this girl feed on bamboo for quite a long time.
no official word yet on when she is headed to chengdu where the chinese panda experts feel like she will be excellent at breeding pandas to try to repopulate the world with her, but it’s going to be soon. i’ll be hitting the zoo a lot over the next few weeks to say goodbye.
good bye mei lan
stop by if you get a chance and wish her well and a safe journey. she’s been a great, if only temporary, resident of this city. she’ll carry us with her as she goes across the pacific, though. her name, atlanta’s beauty, a testament to the city she called home.
make sure when you go, you look at the goodbye cards that school kids have been sending mei lan. they’re just past the entrance to the panda area in a small wooden inlet.
gonna miss you mei lan.
Glad to know that someone else is sad about it too. I feel like a small furry piece of the city is being taken away from us.
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Y’all upset that the national media ignore Mei Lan and get all sniffly over her cousin, DC’s Tai Shan?