When puppies go wrong
My girlfriend told me this story. A Bangkok-based friend of my girlfriend’s once went to Chatuchak weekend market with the intention of buying a puppy. She found the perfect pup, a black-and-white dog that melted her heart with how adorable it looked.
She bought the puppy for about 5,000 baht and took it home. It wasn’t long before the puppy began exhibiting unusual traits for a dog. As the dog grew older, it became increasingly obvious that that it was actually… a giant panda.
Not amused at how large and bear-like her once handbag-sized puppy had become, the girl took the panda back to Chatuchak where she was given a refund.
This just goes to show the wide range of animals that can be bought at Chatuchak. The last time I was there, I saw dogs, cats, monkeys, rabbits, turtles, all sorts. I’m no animal-rights activist so I’ll leave commenting on the conditions of the animals to those who are, but if you did fancy rearing a panda bear, there would likely be someone who could help you out.
While it may seem like a great idea in theory, giant pandas are endangered species and at up to 250 pounds, they could pull your head off without much trouble.
April 14th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Sounds like an urban legend to me! But then again, you can get (or catch) just about anything in Bangkok.
April 14th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Funny story, but I could not find any other reference on the internet. You should think it would be world news if this came out. Are you sure it is no urban legend?
April 14th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
The littel panda is sooo cute!
April 14th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Nah man, it happened to a friend of my girlfriend’s. I’ll ask her about it when she wakes up.
April 14th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
My Norwegian friend used to have a pet lemur when we lived in Hanoi. It was damn cute, but I am pretty sure they’re endangered. A panda sounds a bit far-fetched, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if it were true.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:54 am
Breeding Panda bears in captivity is on a par with making weapons grade Plutonium! If you did manage to perform that miracle, you would ask for more than 5,000 baht?!
April 15th, 2008 at 4:39 am
What a load of shit! Do you have any idea just how hard it is to make pandas mate? You wouldn’t get one for less than several hundred thousand dollars, if not a couple of million. As cheap as Jatujak is, they ain’t gonna sell you a panda for 5,000 baht. They ain’t never gonna get a panda to sell…
April 15th, 2008 at 4:47 am
I’m starting to wonder about this myself.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Its always a friend of a friend with these stories!
April 15th, 2008 at 7:07 am
har har.
i like the thai humour. did you really believe it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSdPOc68Pn4
April 15th, 2008 at 10:38 am
I love that song hahaha.
April 15th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Hi everyone,
This is Thailand and a lot of bizarre you could imagine happened. I report and you decide.
I am not a big fan of animal planet but definitely, I know how hard to have a panda.
That story was happen last 10 year ago. At that time, Chutuchak, the well know weekend market where they sold any things bizarre odd wild illegal animals specially in the animal section - - - my girl friend just wanna buy a puppie and it look a really cute puppie really and no idea till she took it to a vet and no doubt she did hurry take it back to the shop within a week. I am not gonna find out where they had that panda from. it may truck from china and through north of Thailand border then, down here to the dark market.
Call my friend naïve that she did not charge or try to make the extra money into her pocket. She would call cop and make it a big news she was in shock and only one things she would think about it wouldn’t wanna in any trouble when she found that miracle. I think, it fair enough 5,000 Baht for a little pup last 10 years ago it quite expensive actually for a pet where here in Thailand, you could grab and adopt it from the street ;) it 100 out there and looking for someone to feed ‘em up
another bizarrd story. I remember that when I was 14 I went to my primary school friend house and her back yard look like a small Dusit Zoo – it wasn’t a struck stuffs its alive! :0 parrots, dear, Iguana, Owl and much more in the cases even her dad pet, a stinky skunk run around the house and live in her dad bedroom how bizarre. She told me that they were belong to her dad . it was his petties collection. I am no idea what rich people do now aday to serve their satisfication. It may fashion for men at that time to have ‘em I don’t know what to say ….just poor things. Don’t ask me why I didn’t call cop hey, I was not smart enough to call cop to catch my friend’s dad..just my fam never ever let me go to her house again once I told them about it.
Good night to u all
matty’s pup
April 15th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Hmmm. Well there you have it.
April 15th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Can’t believe you thought Zeitgeist was bullshit!
April 15th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Meo, all you’ve done is repeat the story. You haven’t offered anything to change my view that it’s a load of crap. I agree that a panda could conceivably have found itself at jatujak, especially in those days, but there’s no way it would have been let go for 5000 baht because somebody mistook it for a puppy. Next we’ll hear gold bullion was sold at jatujak for a dollar an ounce because nobody knew any better.
April 16th, 2008 at 1:35 am
Maybe someone took a picture of the panda. This is fast becoming one of the great mysteries of our time.
April 17th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Talking about madness, utter madness..
http://www.doggiedoo.net/index.html
Why the heck would one provides swimming lessons to a dog !
They already KNOW how to swim and the chance a dog will get to swim one day in Thailand and Bangkok are as slim as cigarette paper…
April 19th, 2008 at 5:37 am
For me, the definitely unbelievable part is that you get a refund at Chatuchak market :D
April 19th, 2008 at 8:44 am
[...] up to be one of the most farcical events in Thailand for years. Even more unbelievable than a girl’s pet puppy turning into a giant panda, 2,000 policemen, four police vehicles, a bomb squad, a canine crew and a 150-strong Chinese [...]
April 19th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Meo: 4 thousand for a puppy was nothing ten years ago. At that time my parents were breeding dalmatians and selling them making about 500k per litter.
I’ve seen a lot of odd stuff and have had some very odd pets through my life. Something like a Panda could possibly be acquired by someone who regularly goes to JJ market and knows people. My dad was offered a Tibetan dog that they say is strong enough to fight big cats, puppies cost 200k. Crocodiles can be bought from the sriracha tiger farm and once a year monkeys are up for sale for 40k.
April 21st, 2008 at 7:20 am
I paid 1000 baht in a Pattaya street market for a baby porcupine. But if it “grew into a Panda” by mistake no way would I take it back to the shop for a refund. I’d sell that f*cker and make hella bank for sure!