How stupid was he? I’ll tell you how stupid he was…
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I found this story at Comcast’s Odd News page and I just had to share it.
A 20-year-old college student visiting a zoo in South China jumped the fence around the panda’s habitat to give it a hug. As you might expect, the student was bitten in the arms and legs.
The student gave this explanation as to why he approached the panda: “Yang Yang was so cute and I just wanted to cuddle him. I didn’t expect he would attack.”
Lots of stuff wrong with that sentence. Let’s review.
A guy jumped the fence? I am being stereotypical here, I know that. I would expect a chick to say something like that. Girls like teddy bears. Most of ‘em do. But most of them stand longingly outside of the fence and gush about how cute the bear is.
It does make sense to me that a guy would actually scale the fence to get close. Guys in their late teens and early 20s tend to be overly confident when it comes to their own abilities. See? I’m equal opportunity when it comes to harsh, stereotypical generalizations.
But it seems like a guy would jump that fence for a vastly different stupid reason. Like he thought he could poke the panda’s arm and then run to safety back over the fence. I can see how a 20-year-old guy would think he could outrun a wild animal.
Strange as that seems, it still registers as realistic to me. But to risk one’s life to cuddle a panda seems really out there — especially for a guy but for a girl as well.
It really boggles my mind that he didn’t expect the bear to attack. My lips are pursed, my head is cocked to the right and my eyebrows are raised in disbelief.
You didn’t expect a wild animal — one that must be caged and kept away from humans — to attack? Large and small domesticated dogs bite humans on occasion. There are lawyers who advertise and advocate suing over a dog bite.
I’m pretty certain, without researching it, that a panda is a lot larger than than the biggest dog. Well, Marmaduke was a Great Dane and he was pretty darn big. So maybe a Great Dane is about the size of an adolescent panda. I admit ignorance on that part.
But Marmaduke looks pretty big in that cartoon, doesn’t he? (Thank you Wikipedia for providing the Marmaduke cartoon.)
So the student who was bitten had surgery and will remain in the hospital for a few days. As with any news story, Comcast practiced fair news reporting and provided the outlook for both parties. Here’s what they had to say about Yang Yang.
“Yang Yang was behaving normally on Saturday and did not seem to suffer any negative psychological effects, the park employee said.” It’s fortunate that Yang Yang didn’t suffer from any psychological trauma, don’t you think?
But this was the best part of the story, in my opinion. It’s a response from the park official as to whether more signs would be posted outside of Yang Yang’s habitat or if a taller fence would be erected in response to this incident.
“We cannot make it like a prison. We already have signs up warning people not to climb in,” he said. “There are no fences along roads but people know not to cross if there are cars. This is basic knowledge.”
Indeed, unnamed park official, this is basic knowledge and that further elaborates the lesson I am trying to teach my kids about consequences.
“If you mess with the bull, you get the horns,” I tell them.
Then I punctuate this lesson by giving the hang loose sign with my hand, but the index and pinky fingers are parallel to the floor. And then I thrust the fake horns at my kids.
They laugh, but I think the message is getting through. I guess I’ll know for sure when they’re 20 years old and visiting the zoo.
Yeesh. I am not the biggest fan of zoos in the first place. I feel so sorry for those poor animals, unless they have like, one of those wild safari-type parks to run around in and then I still kind of feel for them. (The zoo in my city is atrocious–the tigers pace back and forth in their little enclosure, exhibiting stereotypical animal boredom and frustration.)
Anyway, yeah, I wonder what made the guy think the pandas would accept his advances ;)
I appreciate the zoo’s reaction though. I can’t imagine the pandas being punished for reacting like normal pandas. Interesting story.
Funny, I haven’t seen a zoo like yours in years — where the cages are super small, small enough for the animal to pace. Ours is quite large and each set of animals has a lot of area and stuff to climb on, caves to hang out in, etc.
It sounds like Yang Yang the panda just wasn’t into that guy, eh?
It’s fortunate that this event took place outside the US, because if it had happened here, there would be all sorts of carrying-on about building higher fences, more signs, and giving pandas sedatives to make them less likely to bite.
Minnesota’s zoo is the natural habitat-type Leah mentioned above, and a few years ago, somebody allowed their precious darling to get into an exhibit to “pet” a meerkat. Of course, the child was bitten, and nobody knew which meerkat did the biting, so all the meerkats were destroyed so the child wouldn’t have to suffer through a series of rabies shots. Yeah, real fair. I’d like to give the kid’s parents rabies shots right in the eye.
No joke, Suzi. I can see the bulldozers already…
Doesn’t it just seem inconceivable that someone would allow their kid to attempt contact with a zoo animal? I just cannot wrap my head around that being a good idea.
I’m reading The Darwin Awards, which is a compilation of stories of stupidity. The first chapter is about animal encounters and includes folks who die or get maimed from picking up poisonous snakes or keeping constrictors as pets, sticking arms inside zoo cages, getting out of the vehicle during safari rides, etc. Yang Yang was quite tame by comparison.
Your library probably has a copy of this book. I think you’d enjoy reading it.
I’ve heard of that book, SPG. I am going to get it from the library, I know it will make a good read.
I just placed a hold at my library on “DARWIN AWARDS 4 : INTELLIGENT DESIGN.” Thanks for the tip!
People are dumb. We should never forget that.
Also, you asked on my blog for my twitter name. It is:
strugglngwriter
:)
Thanks for your handle. And I don’t know why I constantly expect common sense out of all people. I suppose common sense from 80% of the population is the best we can hope for.
Other peoples’ stupidity seems to have no boundaries. I too am happy the zoo officials aren’t doing anything. Funny, I saw that headline on comcast and assumed it was a child that wanted to cuddle. A 20 yr old man?! Too funny.
Yeah. I keep getting hung up on those two facts as well:
1.Twenty years old.
2. A guy.
I wonder if he has a panda beanie baby.
Yikes. What an idiot! And they say we’re the most advanced species…
Darwinism at it’s best.
I couldn’t have said it better myself, Solomon.
Just one word “idiot”
That’s an accurate word, sanjay.
Some people…I swear.
It really is mind boggling. It makes me wonder if he had friends with him and what they had to say when he started climbing the fence.
“If you mess with the bull, you get the horns.” I may have to use that!! Because you know, if there are fences, there’s a reason they’re there. It’s hard to believe someone scaled a fence at a zoo and expected a better outcome.
Yeah, I’ve found that saying to come in handy many times. And yes. As you pointed out, fences are barriers for a reason.
I mean, seriously??? Some people are just a few fries short of a happy meal…That is too funny!
Exactly. I think there might be a chicken nugget missing from that meal as well.
The epitome of stupidity. He deserved it.
I have to agree that the black and white side of me (most of my brain) screamed the same thing — “Dumbass. If you do something like that you deserve to be mauled.” But I didn’t think it was PC to say that in my post. So I’ll just whisper that to you here in the Lounge.
I’m sure it was a guy who thought he could defy the odds, girls are just smarter, sorry. We know it’s just plain odd. I do think people lack common sense…the panda is behind bars for a reason, hello? Love the hand movement, gotta use that!
I find the saying (about the bull) is really punctuated well with the hand movement. It’s fun, give it a try :)
Wow. That was stoopit.
Word.
Somebody could put together a book just of stupid- people-animal interactions (like those people who brought the bat in to a classroom and allowed the students to touch it – duh). I have one of those stupid criminal books and I love reading it to my ES sometimes.
I loved your excellent use of the word “duh” Wendy! Very necessary and appropriate in that sentence. I think the Darwin Awards is a book like that. I’ll know soon enough, I have it on hold at the library.