Caretaker Who Wears Panda Costume to Nurture Panda Cubs Has the Best Job Ever

Let’s face it, some jobs are better than others. Being a mattress tester or ice cream taster? Those sound like some pretty darn good jobs. Dressing up as a panda to play with panda cubs? Now that would be the best job ever.

For some lucky women (or men — the costume obscures gender) in China, they get to don a panda costume and cuddle panda cubs all day. Doesn’t that sound like a dream?

Best job in the world! Cuddling panda cubs – dressed up to help them learn to live without humans 🤗🐼🐾 (ipanda/People's Daily, China) pic.twitter.com/9XUnST0HCc

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) July 25, 2017

And while this job appears to be absolutely amazing, it’s actually a lot of work. The caretakers job is to teach the cubs to live without humans so they could potentially survive in the wild. Living with humans, or at least humans that look like humans, can lead to attachment which “can hinder a panda’s chances of survival once it is released,” The Atlantic wrote.

To give these cubbies their best shot at life in the wild, caretakers go to great lengths to blend in. That means they’ll do anything from rubbing panda urine on themselves (yuck!) to pretending to be trees.

Another reason for the costumes is that they reduce the cub’s potential stress levels. Imagine how scary it would be to see a giant creature walking on two legs towards you. We bet it would be pretty jarring to go from only seeing your panda mom to being poked and prodded by some hairless thing in a blue mask.

That said, after BBC shared their video of a caretaker in China playing with the cubs, the internet immediately begged to know how they could get this job.

What career path do I need to take to become a fake panda? https://t.co/ItKw0X9iI6

— Stewlander (@StewHicks) July 25, 2017

In the wrong profession, I need the job of panda cuddler 🐼🐼🐼🐼🐼🐼🐼

— Sarah Hogg (@sarahhogg196) July 25, 2017

While we’d be pretty thrilled to help nurture baby pandas, we do have one request. Can we do something about these costumes? It doesn’t seem as though there’s a standard uniform for caretakers. The person in the BBC wears a get-up that looks like a typical Halloween costume while the subjects in photographer Ami Vitale look downright terrifying.

https://www.instagram.com/p/7eCXKYESIM/

What do you think? Should we sign you up, too?

h/t Travel + Leisure

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