Panda bites drunken man, man bites back

By M&C News Sep 20, 2006, 18:09 GMT

Chinese Numbnut is lucky he didn\'t get eaten... EPA/XIAO WANG

BEIJING - A drunken Chinese man jumped into the panda enclosure at the Beijing Zoo, and was subsequently bitten by the surprised bear.   The drunk retaliated by biting down on the animal's back, state media said Wednesday.

Zhang Xinyan, from the central province of Henan, drank four litres of beer at a restaurant near the zoo before assaulting "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 reported.

The panda, who was asleep, was completely surprised 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."