11 Most Bizarre Zoo Accidents

5. Gu Gu The Giant Panda - A Multiple Assaulter (Beijing, 2006/2007/2009)

Despite having assaulted three different people, Gu Gu the giant panda remains happily encased in his enclosure at Beijing Zoo in China - although to be fair, he has been provoked on every occasion. Gu Gu first gained notoriety in September 2006 when he gnawed at the leg of an (incredibly stupid) man, Zhang Xinyan, who had drunkenly jumped into his enclosure and attempted to hug him. Zhang attempted to bite the panda back so that he would be released, but Gu Gu's fur was far too thick - and it took high-pressure water sprayed by zookeepers to separate the pair. Little more than a year later, 15-year-old Li Xitao jumped into the enclosure in October 2007 while Gu Gu and another panda were being fed. Gu Gu was startled by the boy's intrusion during dinner time, so he ran at Li and ripped massive chunks of flesh from the visitor's legs - bites that went so deep, bones were left exposed. As if those two incidents weren't scary enough, the 18-stone panda also attacked Zhang Jiao in January 2009 - when the zoo visitor jumped into the enclosure in order to retrieve a small toy dropped by his son. Again Gu Gu went for his legs, lacerating the major ligaments, and zookeepers had to use specialised tools to prise the panda's jaws open. Bizarrely, CNN described repeat-offender Gu Gu as "not your typical soft-and-cuddly giant panda". Now that is not only factually incorrect, it is also a huge understatement...