Andy: Follow us!
The peach-sized pandas represent a rarity — red pandas don’t often have triplets — but their mom Kate is “doing a great job caring for them,” the zoo said in an emailed news release.
The 202-acre wildlife park said it anticipates the three baby pandas, thus far unnamed, will hang out in their ALBANY — In the wake of the nation’s latest mass shootings, Gov. Cuomo is calling on Democratic presidential candidates to pledge their support for tighter gun laws.
Cuomo laid out a four-point proposal Wednesday modeled after New York’s own laws: a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines; universal background checks; a mental heath database; and a red-flag law that prevents people who pose a risk to themselves or others from purchasing a firearm.
“If you can’t support those four things I don’t believe you should be running for president as a Democrat. And if the Democrats actually agree to one simple program then we can offer this nation a choice,” Cuomo said during an appearance on CNN’s “New Day.” “Otherwise this is all noise nest box for the next few months before they make their exhibit debut some time around October. The three young pandas call July 11 their birthday.
For the moment, the pandas have blinding white coats, although those will turn a rusty reddish hue when they’re about a month-and-ahalf and all confusion.”
At least 31 people were killed over the weekend in shootings in Texas and Ohio, and President Trump has once again responded to the tragedies by parroting the National Rifle Association’s mental-health talking points.
Trump said he supports the death penalty for those who commit mass murder, and said this week he supports a version of the red-flag measure, old, the zoo said.
“Although red pandas typically have high mortality rates, the three cubs are doing well thanks to Kate and her caregivers,” the zoo said in the news release. “The smallest of the cubs has been receiving supplemental feedings from zookeepers to ensure that it gains weight at a healthy rate.”
The zoo said it’s not sure yet about the cubs’ genders.
Red pandas, listed as endangered, grow to about the size of large house cats.
They eat bamboo and are native to the Eastern Himalayas. but he stopped short of advocating a ban on assaultstyle weapons, saying “mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun.”
In 2013, after the shooting in Sandy Hook, Conn., that left 20 children and six adults dead, Cuomo enacted the SAFE Act, which banned high-capacity magazines and assault weapons, ensured all gun purchases are subject to background checks and toughened penalties for those who use illegal guns.
The governor said any Dem seeking the nomination should be onboard.
“If a Democratic candidate wants support in New York, then support these four simple provisions,” he told CBS 880. “We did it in New York six years ago. It works, and there’s no reason not to do it.”
This year, Democrats in the state capital went further by passing a red-flag law and a number of additional gun control measures, including penalties on gun owners who don’t keep their firearms locked up if they live with children younger than 16.
Cuomo signed laws last week preventing teachers from carrying guns at school and a ban on 3-D printed guns.
Another law requires gun buyers wait up to 30 days if there is something in their past that warrants a more thorough background check.