11/23/2008

"You are so cute!"

I enjoy bringing my guests to see pandas in the Panda Exhibit in Sever Star Park. But last Friday an accident happened there.
A 20-year-old student had ignored warning signs and scaled a two-metre (6.5ft) barrier to get into the pen. State media say the panda bit him on his arms and legs, and he had to be rescued by the animal's keepers. A worker at the park, quoted by the official Xinhua news agency, said there are clear signs warning visitors not to go beyond the fences for their own safety, "but the young man ignored them". The panda, Yang Yang, was apparently scared by the intruder and bit the man's arms and legs, he said.
"Yang Yang was so cute and I just wanted to cuddle him," he told Xinhua from his hospital bed." I didn't expect he would attack... I don't remember how many bites I got." Yang Yang - whose name means sun - is seven years old and weighs 80kg (176lb). Keepers said he had recovered from the incident and was eating and playing as normal.

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