Vanessa's Journal

Sept. 30, 2009

Construction Site

Hello again from the Wuyipeng Field Station. The last few days have been busy, as we are running around like a bunch of construction workers trying to get new cages erected ahead of our trapping season.

I should say that I am using the term “we” quite loosely here. I am not much use with anything resembling an ax, hammer, or saw. When it comes to such equipment, I’m more of a danger to myself and others than a helping hand. How is it that a person could be in graduate school and be so incapable in this regard? I am left to ponder that as I mostly sit on a rock and make plans for the upcoming panda trapping season to the sound of sawing and chopping in the background.

On that note, so much for the idea of getting all of this done before the pandas arrive so as not to scare them off. That was a bit naive. On our first day out to a place called Hero Valley, we found days-old panda feces in an area where we were about to build a trap. Oops! We must have sounded like a herd of elephants rolling through. We can only hope that this panda will come around again in a few weeks when we have the traps up and running.

On our way back to the field station that same day, I found an old poacher’s snare dangling from a tree that was designed to stop a deer dead (literally) in its tracks. It was considerably rusted and looked to be from about 1982, making it as old as me. That was a sobering experience, to say the least. Sometimes it can feel so pristine up here, almost like an untouched forest. And then moments like that jolt you back into reality. Maybe there is not a single place on earth left that has not been touched and abused in some way by humans.

We weren’t given much time to ponder these thoughts, as the sun was quickly setting. The last few minutes of the hike were in near darkness. Thankfully, after the hundredth time of hiking the same trail over the years as we check traps, we practically know it by heart and our bodies instinctively took over the locomotive process. I think it is safe to say that I was looking forward to my head hitting the pillow that night.

We’ve got a few days more of this preparation process and we’re just trying to keep our weary bodies together and sense of humor intact as we push to the finish line. I can’t wait to get those traps up and running.