I’ve been to a Chinese zoo once and I doubt I’ll go back. All the animals looked like they were half-dead and all of the visitors climbed the protective walls and held their kids over the rails. I remember thinking to myself that one of these days, someone was gonna get mauled. Lo and behold, Monday afternoon at the Beijing Zoo, a 15-year-old boy climbed over one of the protective barriers into the outdoor panda exercise where the bears were eating. Lulu, an 8-year-old panda who, according to the Beijing News, had bitten a drunken tourist last year who jumped into her cage, viciously attacked the boy and bit substantial chunks out of both the boy’s legs. As reported by the AP Tuesday, “The Beijing News identified the teen as Li Xitao, citing emergency medical officials who said he was so viciously attacked that his bones were showing. Chunks of flesh were left behind in the ambulance, they said.” The attack lasted 2-3 minutes, which doesn’t seem like such a long time, but think about counting slowly to 180 while a 240-pound panda ripped flesh from your legs. To add insult to injury, the director of the zoo told the press that the zoo would consider pressing charges against Li, a recyclable collector from Hebei province. What kind of punishment could possibly make Li learn his lesson more than a bear attack?

•AP: Beijing Zoo Panda Bites Teenage Boy

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