Peace the HK panda bites his pen keeper

Source: Agencies  |   2008-12-10  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A GIANT panda named Peace bit a park keeper's left leg while he was laying bamboo leaves in the animal's pen at a Hong Kong amusement park, officials said yesterday.

The park staffer was recovering well in hospital after the attack at the Ocean Park, which has four giant pandas from China's mainland, park spokeswoman Christie Lau said.

Lau said park officials were still investigating the November 30 incident involving the male panda, whose name An An means "peace" in Mandarin. As a gift from the central government, An An arrived in Hong Kong in 1999 with female Jia Jia from the southwestern province of Sichuan.

A park visitor posted a video clip on YouTube that allegedly shows the post-attack scene, with the keeper in a green park uniform crawling out of the panda pen as the animal runs back into its den.

The Apple Daily newspaper quoted an unidentified park employee as saying the keeper did not follow protocol, which required locking pandas in their sleeping dens before placing the bamboo.