A Facebook alert from the public relations department of Indonesia's national police force warns parents of a scourge that may or may not be plaguing their nation: children wearing perfectly fashionable t-shirts that happen to feature an array of giant pandas making sweet, species-saving love to each other.

The post, published this week and flagged by Coconuts Jakarta, reads:

Translated to English via Coconuts, that's:

AN APPEAL

We appeal to the partners of the Police Public Relations division to be aware of the existence and circulation of children's t-shirts with indecent illustrations.

Any partners who know of such t-shirt being circulated or sold are kindly requested to immediately report them to the nearest police station.

But where did the panda sex shirt come from? A watermark adorning the right side of the offending photo points to the meme regurgitation engine 9GAG, where at some point it was posted under the headline "So a kid was wearing this shirt today..."

Whoever published the image to 9GAG likely stole it from Reddit's "WTF" board, where it was posted sans watermark under the same exact headline in late 2013. And a commenter on that post seemed sure he'd seen the panda sex shirt around before it even hit Reddit: "This photo has been circulating on the internet for a few days, Can confirm OP is a liar."

It had been an incredible journey for panda sex shirt, but it wasn't over yet. After Coconuts Jakarta picked up the Indonesian police story this week, the meme found its way back to Reddit, where it currently sits on the front page: "Indonesian Police ask public to help prevent the sale of kids clothes covered in pandas having sex."

A spot near the top of Reddit all but guarantees that certain websites (Gawker included) will pick up your story, and sure enough, panda sex shirt is now enjoying a second shot at memehood. The content machine churns on:

Are kids really running around Indonesia, sartorially proclaiming their love for copulating pandas? It's possible, but the real problem likely has less to do with neglectful parents than it does with some desk cop who got taken in by viral garbage that popped up in his Facebook feed, just like your weird Republican aunt.

[Image via Reddit]