The hardest part about acquiring a panda is moving a panda. She weighs 700 pounds. The concrete base weighs about 500 of that. We visited the owners and surveyed the site, and I formulated a plan that involved an engine hoist, lots of rigging, plywood, and PVC rollers.
I figured we could lift it with the engine hoist, but the base was too wide to allow it to reach the center of gravity. So we lifted the front end and got some wood under there. Then some rollers.
We actually found that the bear would slide down the steepest part of the hill in a controlled way without rollers - just plywood on plywood. Then we switched to rollers for the flat stretch to the driveway. Once there we set up the engine hoist with a spreader bar that I had welded up that morning. The spreader bar turned out to be just what we needed to get that bear high enough without crushing it with chains.
Looking back, I feel really bad about stealing away Donkey’s friend. Donkey is all alone now.
The hoist was just barely tall enough to lift the bear above the truck bed. We were prepared to remove air from the tires if that’s what it took.
We got her all ready for the ride to Silver Spring. We had to adjust the blankets at one point, but the trip was uneventful. While we enjoyed some BBQ on the way home, Andy asked me how much someone would have to pay me to go back and that donkey on the truck right then. I really couldn’t come up with a number at that moment. I think it would have needed to be at least five digits, realistically.
Panda sat in the truck for a week while I figured out how we’d move her to her new home.
Speaking of her new home, we had to scope out a spot for her. We decided to put her in this bamboo stand next to a partially fallen redbud tree. We are really happy with the look of the tree and the bamboo, but we had to see what she might look like. Turns out my belly is a fairly good approximation of a panda’s belly.
So the plan was to use plywood and rollers to get over the retaining wall behind the trailer parking spot. I used ramps to get the truck bed high enough.
…and with some leaf bags to protect the capstones, and some steel bars to support the plywood, it was possible for my brother and I to pull the panda with just our weight and long straps while everybody else in the family helped guide it and rotate the PVC rollers.
For the majority of the distance, we used the teal rope and four pulleys to form a 5-to-1 block-and-tackle system. But for the very steepest part of the hill, we used a come-a-long ratcheting cable that I haven’t used since I can remember. When we weren’t actually using the ratcheting cable to pull the panda, we used it as a safety wire to backstop the rope.
While it would have been awesome to have her in the front yard with the dogs, amongst the river birch trees, we placed her in the back yard to avoid damage from dogpark “activities”. Also, we didn’t want to invite vandalism. In 2004 during the Pandamania exhibit, both her ears were broken off while she was sitting on Connecticut Avenue downtown, according to the archived Pandamania website. She had to go to the Panda Hospital where she was professionally repaired before the auction at the end of the visit.
Finally, in her new home, she’s looks content again. Hopefully she’ll help manage that invasive bamboo. Before winter comes, we’ll be cleaning her up, removing old varnish, and applying fresh coats of UV-blocking varnish according to the care and feeding instructions that came with her. I’ll try to document that too.