Fighting panda extinction

It's fine to wish pandas had a better chance in this world. It really is. It's also fine if you think they're cute. They do have a certain teddy-bear look to them.

But it's not fine to forget they are still animals. Wild animals, as this guy found out.

BEIJING (AFP) - "Gu Gu" is one of the star attractions at the Beijing Zoo but the panda bear with a bad temper has lashed out at a fan for the second time, this time mauling a 15-year-old boy.

Eight-year-old Gu Gu, who weighs 110-kilogrammes (242-pounds), attacked the boy after he jumped into the animal's enclosure, the Beijing News reported on Tuesday.

The boy, Li Xitao, had both his legs gnawed to the bone, the paper said.

Monday's attack was not the first time Gu Gu has tasted human flesh.

In September last year, the panda bit a chunk out of a leg of a drunken man who had jumped into the enclosure to "hug" the cuddly animal, according to reports at
the time.

Teddy bears, they ain't.