At the Shenshuping Panda Base in China, Kang Cheol-won called to Fu Bao, the panda he helped raise from birth in South Korea. The panda recognized his voice and approached. The moment was brief, yet it carried unusual force: It showed that care can leave a memory, even across species, places and political borders.
Fu Bao was born at Everland theme park near Seoul in 2020 and was returned to China in 2024. In South Korea, Kang became known as her “grandfather” because of the patience and affection with which he cared for her. Their reunion moved people because it exposed something modern societies often suppress: Animals are not scenery, symbols or entertainment. They are living beings with histories, responses and relationships.
Environmental discussion often relies on remote language: biodiversity loss, habitat fragmentation, climate resilience and ecosystem services. These terms are necessary, but they can also make destruction sound abstract. A forest becomes a carbon sink. A river becomes a water resource. An animal becomes a population count. Such language can inform policy while concealing the lives it affects.
Fu Bao’s response to a familiar voice reminds us that conservation is not only about preventing extinction. It is also about protecting the conditions in which animals can live without constant disruption, fear or displacement. Coexistence requires humans to recognize that other species do not exist merely for our use, amusement or convenience.
Taiwan has reason to take this lesson seriously. Giant pandas are beloved at Taipei Zoo, but the island’s environmental responsibilities extend far beyond charismatic animals. Taiwan’s forests, rivers, wetlands, coastlines and cities support many forms of life that receive far less public attention. Native wildlife must navigate roads, development, pollution, tourism, waste and shrinking habitats. The species most in need of protection are often those that would never become international celebrities.
This is the weakness of conservation built only around affection. People readily care about animals with expressive faces, compelling stories and names they can remember. Yet ecosystems cannot survive through selective sympathy. Protecting one famous animal while degrading the habitat of countless less visible species is not conservation. It is sentiment without discipline.
The proper response to Fu Bao’s story is not to romanticize captivity or assume affection alone can solve ecological decline. Human care can be sincere, but it must be matched by institutional responsibility. Zoos should strengthen conservation, welfare and scientific cooperation, while governments protect habitats before restoration becomes costlier. Schools should teach ecological interconnectedness, and citizens should consider how consumption and waste affect wildlife. World Environment Day should be a day of accountability, with practical actions—supporting conservation, reducing waste and demanding credible environmental policy—repeated at scale. Fu Bao’s recognition of Kang’s voice moved people because it made a relationship visible. It showed that kindness can be remembered. The more difficult question is whether humans can remember their obligations to the rest of nature.
A society that values coexistence must protect animals it will never meet, habitats it might never visit, and future lives that cannot yet speak for themselves. That is the gift humans should offer on World Environment Day.
Mohammad Sibtain Kadri is a researcher working in environmental education and sustainability at National Taiwan Normal University’s Graduate Institute of Sustainability Management and Environmental Education.
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