Reports of Giant Panda Attacking Humans
- Giant pandas bred in city zoos rarely attack humans.
- They belong to the Carnivora order and are usually found in the Chinese provinces which include Gansu and Sichuan.
- They are considered a national treasure in China.
- The giant panda is regarded as having a gentle temperament and is protected under the First-Grade State Protection Act by the Chinese Government.
- There had been three cases of giant panda attacks on humans at the Panda House at Beijing Zoo.
- The reports serve as a warning to people that giant pandas can have dangerous behavior.
- On September 19, 2006, an intoxicated male tourist was attacked when he jumped into the giant panda enclosure and tried to pet it.
- The victim’s right calf was bitten severely and was diagnosed as an open injury with a skin defect.
- The bite area was entirely irregular with many small wounds.
- On January 7, 2009, another male tourist was attacked by a giant panda when he fell into the enclosure.
- The victim’s left calf was bitten severely and was diagnosed as an open composited injury with a skin defect.
- On June 7, 2009, a third male tourist was attacked by a giant panda when he fell into the enclosure.
- The third victim’s left foot and right elbow joint were bitten.
- All victims received a free latissimus dorsi muscle flap to cover their skin defects.
- The latissimus dorsi flap is one of the most commonly used flaps in reconstructive surgery.[2]
- Dogs, bears, pigs, sharks, wolves, and monkeys are among the other animals that rarely attack humans.
- However, the giant panda attack has not been previously reported.
- Researchers speculated that giant pandas may attack due to being infuriated and frightened.
- In one of the cases, the giant panda did not let go of the victim’s leg even though the victim tried numerous approaches to get the panda to release his leg.
- When the zookeeper arrived for help, the victim was able to escape from the panda’s bite.
- Carnivora are characterized as having powerful jaws and teeth adapted for tearing flesh.
- However, giant pandas mostly eat bamboo compared with the other species of Carnivora.
- A study has shown that the change in giant pandas’ food choices during their evolutionary process has something to do with dopamine metabolic involvement.
- Giant panda attacks are rare in clinical work and treatment was almost the same as other animal attacks.
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Sources:
Zhang, P., Wang, T., Xiong, J., Xue, F., Xu, H., Chen, J., Zhang, D., Fu, Z., & Jiang, B. (2014). Three cases giant panda attack on human at Beijing Zoo. International journal of clinical and experimental medicine, 7 (11), 4515–4518. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4276236
