How Much Is the Salary of a Baby Panda Sitter
Forget kids! Why nanny for human offspring when you could be spending your time with infant panda cubs instead? A handful of organizations, including the Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in the Sichuan province of southwest China, actually employ a category of workers known every bit panda nannies, the chief responsibleness of whom, as the job title suggests, is to play with painfully adorable panda cubs.
(Photo Credit: kuromeri/Flickr)
For this categorically un -arduous task, the GPPRC's panda caretakers are compensated with an average annual bacon of 200,000 yuan (approximately $32,500). Co-ordinate to People's republic of china Daily , besides getting paid to play with panda bears, perks of the year-long office include gratis meals and accommodations, and a visitor SUV.
Caretaker applicants can hail from anywhere in the globe, but must exist at least 22 years of age, and take "some basic noesis of pandas." (What exactly this means is unclear.) Preference is also given to people with decent writing and photography skills,which arehelpful for documenting the pandas' behavior, outset steps, lifestyle choices, etc.
Besides these stipulations, according to panda nanny recruiters, "Your work has but one mission: spending 365 days with the pandas and sharing in their joys and sorrows." Sold!
The Panda Nanny Career Mural
(Photo Credit: fortherock/Flickr)
Unfortunately, panda nanny gigs are difficult to come by. (Is anyone surprised?) Because pandas are shy and independent past nature, a role that allows for direct contact is rare, as of form are the animals themselves, with only an estimated ane,600 pandas currently left in the wild.
According to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, an ever smaller number live in captivity in the United States, where only a handful of zoos firm behemothic pandas (The National Zoo in Washington, D.C., the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee, the San Diego Zoo in California, and Zoo Atlanta in Georgia).
Giant pandas are also pricey. The U.South. is required to settle a $550,000 running annual tab for each pair of pandas living in America, according to National Geographic. (The money goes towards Chinese giant panda reserves' conservation efforts).
Competition Is Fierce
Given the scarcity both of pandas and panda-related positions, competition is predictably tearing. Equally ane of the most well known panda conservation centers in the globe, the GPPRC caused a frenzy last summer when it launched a worldwide recruitment entrada for panda caretakers to join in its panda care-taking, breeding, and overall conservation efforts. The organisation reportedly received over 100,000 applications inside just two months of posting a job list aptly titled, "Most FUN job," which consequently caused its website to crash.
Though panda nannies are often volunteers from Japan, Europe, and the United States, according to Heng Yi, a CCRCGP spokesperson, the panda middle began casting a worldwide net for compensated caretaker positions several years back in an endeavour to increase global sensation about the animal.
"Many people at our heart do the same job, just the salary was never that high," Yi told China Daily of the now paid positions. "(Westward)e want more people to pay attention to giant pandas' protection piece of work and participate."
Open slots at other panda organizations are similarly sought after. Over just a two-month period in 2010, the Chengdu Research Base of operations of Giant Panda Breeding received 61,600 applications from more 52 countries just for a shot at 1 of six flagman positions that were unpaid and lasted just ane calendar month.
Before the last vi "Pambassadors" were selected,12 semi-finalists underwent a rigorous contest that included taking lessons nigh panda science, care and conservation, and completing applied training at the Chengdu Panda Base of operations such making panda meals, building panda exercise ladders, and weighing panda poop. The winning "Pambassadors" were then selected later on completing "an intense three-60 minutes alive showdown" on Red china's largest TV network, CCTV.
Panda Practicalities
(Video Credit: CCTV News/YouTube )
In spite of the highly competitive chore marketplace (and clearly significant relocation commitment), the simply identifiable con to existence a panda nanny appears to be a willingness to swallow less interesting food:
"Yous demand perseverance for this job," said Ye Mingxin, a Ford Motor Co. executive who served as a co-organizer of the heart'south 2014 recruitment campaign. (Interestingly, the Ford logo appears on the GPPRC website, only an investigation as to why concluded before information technology began due to the fact that the site is written entirely in Chinese.)
"We expect that the applicants will exist mainly white-neckband workers from big cities," Mingxin explained. "They are used to eating whatever they want, but inside the giant panda base, the choices will not be plentiful."
Given that a panda nanny's charges subsist 99 per centum on bamboo, which seems fairly limiting in terms of taste bud stimulation, sacrificing a little culinary diverseness in exchange for a career's worth of paid panda playdates doesn't seem as well loftier a cost.
Unfortunately the GPPRC doesn't announced to be currently hiring, but that doesn't mean it won't in the future, and in that location are multiple other organizations and zoos, like the National in D.C., that sometimes accept panda caretakers on a paid or volunteer ground.
For those interested in working with animals only less interested in relocating to another continent, bank check out this list of other animal-related careers compiled by the Smithsonian.
And, if you'd prefer to experience panda-nannying vicariously rather than directly, wait no further than the Smithsonian's "Panda Cam."
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Source: https://www.payscale.com/career-advice/jobs-to-thrill-your-inner-child-panda-nanny/
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