Sai Kung humanitarian Dougie French has gallantly come to the rescue of an endangered Giant Panda doomed by the Corona Crisis.
The fearless animal-lover masterminded a daring evacuation of the adorable beast on a farewell visit to his beloved Disneyland before the devastating ‘Hong Kong Lockdown’.
“All the other animals were being evacuated to safety with the sanctuary closing to visitors,” he recounted, breathlessly.
“But they cruelly abandoned my favourite Giant Panda, Mike, just because he recently returned from mating in Australia and showed minor symptoms of the virus – losing his sense of taste and smell of his staple diet, Mac’Bamboo.
“Having bonded with him on frequent visits to Disneyland, I realised he would suffer intolerably from lonely self-isolation.”
By amazing good fortune, Dougie’s wife Jen is a professional “pet mover”, specialising in re-locating animals to new homes worldwide.
“She had never relocated a Giant Panda before, to be honest, but immediately agreed to help me save Mike – so long as we keep strictly socially-distanced”.
Together, in the dead of night on the eve of lockdown, they mounted a Steve McQueen-style ‘Great Escape’ and spirited Mike away to a secret quarantine centre in Sha Kok Mei.
“We’re now keeping him isolated in our luxurious home theatre, cheerfully watching Netflix all day and night.
“And he already seems to be recovering – regaining his legendary appetite for Mac’Bamboo while thirstily consuming crates of Carlsberg.
“Mike always liked it when I hummed the ‘Born Free’ theme tune to him at Disneyland.
“So in a couple of weeks, if all goes well, we plan to release him back into the wild where he belongs – in the Mac’Bamboo forest at the top of Yan Yee Road.”
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