Matthew's Favorite Animal

Matthew is a special kid. He has a big heart and has always shown great empathy towards others. I have one special memory to share that exemplifies the fact.

One day, about a year ago he received his newest Ranger Rick in the mail (a highly anticipated day once a month). On the cover was a red panda. Matthew said to me, "I can't wait to go to bed tonight so I can read about the cutest animal I have ever seen!" He did indeed go to bed early that night and when I went in to tell him lights out I found him crying. Not just crying, let me rephrase that; weeping. I scooped him up in my arms and asked him what in the world was wrong? He said that he had been reading about how the red panda's habitat is endangered because man is cutting down the trees they live in. He didn't want to see these beautiful creatures that he only just learned existed to disappear! So, I had to do some quick thinking because if there was one thing I knew at that exact moment, it was that this was my opportunity to grow a conservationist. So what I said was that he should hold that passion in his heart and remember it tomorrow when we would Google 'red panda rescue'.

Sure enough, we found The Red Panda Project. They happen to have a children's program and Matthew is well on his way to becoming a Red Panda Ranger.

But there's more to the story! Earlier this year we made a trip to the Nashville zoo. We hadn't been there in awhile because, well, quite honestly we thought the zoo was pretty lame. We were having a wonderful visit this time, however. While on one of our many bathroom visits, we were waiting on some of the rest of our party to finish. Matthew and I were looking around at some of the shadow boxes they had all along the hallway with different animal displays in them. All of a sudden Matthew comes barreling past me, says, "GREAT! Just GREAT! I did NOT need to see that." And begins to sob. I rushed over to where he was looking and found a red panda pelt. Oh dear. I explained to him that they would never have a pelt on display that had come from a red panda that was healthy. The red panda most likely died of natural causes. I explained to him how cool it was that he was able to see the fur so up close. Then we noticed a little sign in the bottom corner of the display that said, "Don't forget to visit our red pandas!" AHHH!! Matthew and I ran to the exhibit. It was awesome. He sat there and stared at those pandas for a good 20 minutes. That very day we purchased a zoo membership. Here's a panda from a recent trip to the zoo: