Belov's love of animals and offbeat sense of humor inspired her to turn her artistic talents to a series of cartoons starring her cat, Mehitabel and Bob, the panda. Brought up on "Winnie the Pooh", and "The Wind in the Willows", she has always believed that animals not only can talk, but that they have quite a lot to say for themselves.
She lives on Whidbey Island in a house in the woods, surrounded by many animals, unfortunately not pandas.
Her main regret in life is that there is no MacArthur Fellowship awarded in the field of panda satire.