That'll teach him
Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 10:22 am
"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."
Can anyone say "Darwin Award"? Oh, yes, "I never knew they would not excuse my right to act like a nut".
This actually makes the Head-On advertisement sound like paradise.
Official score...
Panda: 1
Man: 0
In all seriousness, hopefully the worker will recover, though he better not smell like sushi mixed with the aroma of bamboo next time.
