(11ALIVE) -- Mei Lan may be gone, but she is certainly not forgotten. After Zoo Atlanta's first born giant panda cub left Atlanta last week, reports appeared about her transition to her new home in China. And some of those reports were not encouraging.
When she was wheeled onto the tarmac to be put into the cargo hold of the Federal Express 777 jet, it was a Mei Lan we'd never seen before: an agitated animal reacting to a strange circumstance.
"That was hard for me to watch, too," said Zoo Atlanta head mammal curator Dr. Rebecca Snyder.
Snyder wanted Mei Lan to have a comfortable trip. But while the plane ride was okay for Mei Lan, she had some difficulty on the ground.
"The first couple of days," Snyder said, "she didn't eat very much. She startled a lot to noises and things around her."
Just as we would be irritated by an unexpected and drastic change in our lives, so too was Mei Lan.
"The way she reacted was not unexpected," said Snyder, "and it's a pretty normal way to react to such a bit change."
From the day Mei Lan was born, Zoo Atlanta keeper Heather Roberts has been with the giant panda cub constantly.
That is why she accompanied Mei Lan to China -- and will be with her there for a few more days.
"Heather said she does feel like Mei Lan has been reassured by her presence on the plane" said Snyder, "and in Chengdu. "
And finally, today there was some good news.
"We heard from heather today," she said, "that she's done a lot better. She's eating more now. She's drinking her water regularly. And she's calmer than she was."
Snyder says she worried about Mei Lan too, but only as an adult who cares for a child that has gone off on her own. She is confident that Mei Lan will be just fine.
