CUTE & CUDDLY MY A$$! GIANT PANDA IN SAN DIEGO ZOO ATTACKS A ZOOKEEPER!

A California panda bear showed zookeepers Sunday that she is no gentle giant.

Bai Yun, a 220-pound mama bear with five cubs, barged through a gated area at the San Diego Zoo during her morning feeding and bit a caretaker on the arm, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The zookeeper was rushed to the hospital. The details of her condition were not released.

Bai Yun, 19, was lumbering around her sleeping quarters before the attack, then charged through an area that is usually protected with safety barriers to separate zookeepers from the animals.

The zoo was closed at the time, and officials say the area was not secure at the time Bai Yun clamped down on her caretaker's arm.

Panda bears, native to China, are often cast as gentle and cuddly characters. However, they have powerful jaws and are agile tree climbers, and it's not unusual for them to become violent, animal experts say.

"Most bears have a volatile temperament and can suddenly become aggressive," a zoo spokeswoman told the newspaper. "Bai Yun is a normal panda who was in an abnormal area."

Bai Yun arrived at the San Diego Zoo in 1996 and has born five cubs since that time.

The giant panda is an endangered species and fewer than 2,500 survive in the wild, according to the conservationist group WWF.

The zoo has celebrated the birth of each of Bai Yun's cubs and described her as "excellent and attentive" mother.



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