For the seventh year in a row, Washington DC panda Mei Xiang has been artificially inseminated, after another unsuccessful mating attempt with her partner Tian Tian. What zoo keepers fail to realize is that while they are striving to save a nearly extinct animal, Mei Xiang is just “not that into it.”
The panda has made it clear that she is done raising cubs. “I already gave birth to one rare bear, what more do you people want?” she reportedly told officials while groggily emerging from her post-insemination anesthesia.
Though China has a strict one child per family rule, it does not apply to panda’s living abroad and the pressure’s been on for Mei Xiang to have another cub since rearing her son Tai Shan in 2005. The 13 year old panda, still nearly a child herself has been forced, according to an official wishing to remain anonymous, to have “awkward and downright uncomfortable dinner and movie dates” with Tian Tian. According to Hildegard, the giraffe next door, Mei Xiang confided to her that on numerous occasions “she faked it” with Tian Tian. “I understand where she [Mei Xiang] is coming from,” says Hildegard. “Tian Tian has really let himself go over the years.”
The hippos have also weighed in on the topic. Harry the Hippo claims he has seen Mei Xiang drink heavily during times of supposed pregnancy. “Oh yeah, I’ve seen that crazy bear with bamboo in one paw and a forty of Natty Boh in the other.” Mei Xiang has also been finding her way into the pens of the maned wolves, cheetahs, and ostriches, whom have all been asked to not engage with the bear.
In an email statement Mei Xiang writes the “demands made on my fertility have taken toll on me.” While she has not purposefully harmed herself, the scrutiny of the media and its love affair with pregnant celebrities, has caused her to “behave in ways” she is “not proud of.” Her publicist says that Mei Xiang has decided to enter rehab for an undisclosed period of time to “deal with her issues and make amends with the people she loves.”
Mei Xiang will receive her pregnancy results early next week. If it is positive, she says she hopes the father is Tian Tian.
