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http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-13543465,00.html
Man Bites Panda In Zoo
Updated: 20:10, Thursday September 21, 2006
A drunken man bit a panda after his efforts to hug it at a Chinese zoo received short shrift.
Zhang Xinyan, a builder who was on holiday in Beijing, climbed into the panda's enclosure after drinking four jugs of beer at a local restaurant.
He later said he had wanted to hug the bear and shake its hand, claiming he had seen people do similar things on television.
However, the female panda, Gu Gu, had other ideas. Zhang told the Yangzhao Metropolis Daily: "When I was in there, the panda was eating bamboo.
"Then, it seemed some people shouted, which startled the panda. It rushed over to bite my leg."
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Zhang, 35, tried in vain to push the panda away but was bitten twice - once on each leg - and forced to the ground, the paper said. He then decided to bite back.
He said: "I bit the fellow in the back. Its skin was quite thick."
Zookeepers sprayed water on the struggling pair to break up the fight. Zhang was taken to hospital and given rabies and tetanus jabs.
He said TV pictures had suggested pandas "seemed to get on well with people. No one ever said it would bite people. I just wanted to touch it. I was so dizzy from the beer, I don't remember much."
A spokeswoman for the zoo said the panda had also suffered as a result of the tussle. She said: "It was scared by the intruder and refused to eat for one and a half days."
Gu Gu quickly recovered, however, and was back on show. But Zhang will need several weeks convalescence because of his "deep wounds", according to his doctors.
Man Bites Panda In Zoo
Updated: 20:10, Thursday September 21, 2006
A drunken man bit a panda after his efforts to hug it at a Chinese zoo received short shrift.
Zhang Xinyan, a builder who was on holiday in Beijing, climbed into the panda's enclosure after drinking four jugs of beer at a local restaurant.
He later said he had wanted to hug the bear and shake its hand, claiming he had seen people do similar things on television.
However, the female panda, Gu Gu, had other ideas. Zhang told the Yangzhao Metropolis Daily: "When I was in there, the panda was eating bamboo.
"Then, it seemed some people shouted, which startled the panda. It rushed over to bite my leg."
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Zhang, 35, tried in vain to push the panda away but was bitten twice - once on each leg - and forced to the ground, the paper said. He then decided to bite back.
He said: "I bit the fellow in the back. Its skin was quite thick."
Zookeepers sprayed water on the struggling pair to break up the fight. Zhang was taken to hospital and given rabies and tetanus jabs.
He said TV pictures had suggested pandas "seemed to get on well with people. No one ever said it would bite people. I just wanted to touch it. I was so dizzy from the beer, I don't remember much."
A spokeswoman for the zoo said the panda had also suffered as a result of the tussle. She said: "It was scared by the intruder and refused to eat for one and a half days."
Gu Gu quickly recovered, however, and was back on show. But Zhang will need several weeks convalescence because of his "deep wounds", according to his doctors.
