Panda bites man, man bites panda back at Beijing zoo
Updated 9/20/2006 8:00 AM
By Greg Baker, AP
BEIJING (AP) — A drunken Chinese migrant worker jumped into a panda enclosure at the Beijing Zoo, was bitten by the bear and retaliated by chomping down on the animal's back, state media said Wednesday. Zhang Xinyan, from the central province of Henan, drank four jugs of beer at a restaurant near the zoo before visiting Gu Gu the panda on Tuesday, the Beijing Morning Post said.
"He felt a sudden urge to touch the panda with his hand," and jumped into the enclosure, the newspaper said.
The panda, who was asleep, was startled and bit Zhang, 35, on the right leg, it said. Zhang got angry and kicked the panda, who then bit his other leg. A tussle ensued, the paper said.
"I bit the fellow in the back," Zhang was quoted as saying in the newspaper. "Its skin was quite thick."
Other tourists yelled for a zookeeper, who got the panda under control by spraying it with water, reports said. Zhang was hospitalized.
Newspaper photographs showed Zhang lying on a hospital bed with blood-soaked bandages and a seam of stitches running down his leg.
The Beijing Youth Daily quoted Zhang as saying that he had seen pandas on television and "they seemed to get along well with people."
"No one ever said they would bite people," Zhang said. "I just wanted to touch it. I was so dizzy from the beer. I don't remember much."
Ye Mingxia, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Zoo, confirmed the incident happened but would not give any details. She said Gu Gu was "healthy."
"We're not considering punishing him now," Ye said in a telephone interview. "He's suffered quite a bit of shock."
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Are panda's really bears? I thought they were like big raccoons or somethings?
I once saw a comedy special with Jim Gaffigan and he said "I like Asian women. I dated an Asian woman once, but she was really Asian. She was a panda."
If you're a battery, you're either working or you're dead....
Had the panda ate him, this story would be better.
Yes doctor, I am sick. Sick of those who are spineless. Sick of those who feel self-entitled. Sick of those who are hypocrites. Yes doctor, an army is forming. Yes doctor, there will be a war. Yes doctor, there will be blood.....
Panda Bears are very hard to classify and there is much debate among scientists and taxonomists on where to classify them. To make a long story short, the Giant Panda Bear is extremely close to both bears and raccoons anatomically, and behaviorally. Although it may be hard for many of you to look at a picture of a Panda Bear and see the resemblance of a raccoon. To make it easier, take a look at a RED PANDA or “Lesser Panda”. Scientists are constantly going back and forth discussing the connection and classification of these two “ Panda Bears”. To me and you, it is obvious that Panda Bears look more like bears than raccoons, but to a taxonomist it is much more complex. I’ll leave the details of this to another article.
Panda Bears are very hard to classify and there is much debate among scientists and taxonomists on where to classify them. To make a long story short, the Giant Panda Bear is extremely close to both bears and raccoons anatomically, and behaviorally. Although it may be hard for many of you to look at a picture of a Panda Bear and see the resemblance of a raccoon. To make it easier, take a look at a RED PANDA or “Lesser Panda”. Scientists are constantly going back and forth discussing the connection and classification of these two “ Panda Bears”. To me and you, it is obvious that Panda Bears look more like bears than raccoons, but to a taxonomist it is much more complex. I’ll leave the details of this to another article.
They are bears. There I've laid to rest years of debate.
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