Environment     

'Pambassadors' appointed to aid wildlife

Shanghai Daily, November 18, 2012

• From left: Pouille Jerome from France, Chen Yinrong from China and Melissa Rose Katz from the United States are appointed panda ambassadors yesterday in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, following a selection process that drew more than 1 million participants. The "pambassadors" will tour countries that have pandas to help promote conservation. [Photo/Shanghai Daily]

  Three panda ambassadors - or "pambassadors" - from the United States, France and China were appointed yesterday in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, authorities there said.

  Pambassadors Melissa Rose Katz from the US, Pouille Jerome from France and Chen Yinrong from China, will next year travel the world promoting conservation and the protection of animals on the brink of extinction, the authorities said.

  More than one million people around the world participated in the selection process, with 16 reaching the final round in Chengdu last month.

  The finalists were trained in the Chengdu Panda Base and taught how to take care of pandas and help them survive in the wild.

  "If we don't know what the environment it is like, we won't know how the wild animals are going to survive," said Shanghai resident and newly appointed pambassador Chen.

  "When we learn about their living conditions, then we are better placed to protect them."

  Ding Zhaolin, one of the judges of the event, said the global contest is a good way of highlighting conservation.

  "It's a very good promotional event - comparable to the Great Barrier Reef ambassador scheme," Ding said.

  Ding added that events such as the pambassador scheme also makes people think about job satisfaction.

  "People usually think a job is about earning money but more and more realize that the job itself must be meaningful," explained Ding.

   

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