A drunken Beijing Zoo labourer has learnt the hard way that cuddly pandas are, in fact, wild animals.
According to reports in the UK’s Mirror, labourer Zhang Xinyan had drunk four jugs of beer before feeling a “sudden urge” to pet six-year-old male panda Gu Gu in his Beijing Zoo enclosure.
Unsurprisingly, Zhang’s approach startled the panda, which savagely bit the man's right leg and left arm.
Interviewed in hospital Zhang said: "I bit the fellow in the back. I was dizzy from the beer and don't recall much. But its skin was quite thick."
"I only wanted to touch it."
Zookeepers were forced to spray the uninjured Gu Gu with water to calm the animal down.