Wild panda comes to village to feast; Updated

Check out this piece that came from a blog site, GoChengdoo who picked it up from the Chengdu Commercial Daily,  about a wild panda that comes down out from the mountains on occasion to feed in one of the small villages in Boaxing County. I have inserted a map from Wikipedia and titled it so you can see where in China this is.

Thanks to panda pal, Xi Shan of flickr for sending this our way and thanks also to rbm, who commented about another article about this same story that appeared on ChinaPandaorg.cn. It does go into more detail about the family, so be sure to check it out also.

Wild panda enters villagers' home in Sichuan County

A farming family in western Sichuan's Baoxing county got an early new year's surprise when a wild giant panda entered their house and gobbled up nearly 2 kilograms of pork bones that had been placed near the pigpen. After its feast, the panda gestured to the farmer that it was still hungry, and the happy-to-please host brought out some more fresh pork ribs for his guest. The panda took the bones straight from the hands of the farmer and sat down in the house to continue eating, after which the panda had a brief stroll and then a nap until the next morning. "

It was around 6 p.m., and I had been making dinner. I stepped out of the room and saw a panda just in front of the doorway. I told the whole family, we should walk with it to the forest over there. About a half-hour later, my wife saw the panda sitting next to the pigpen chewing on the bones," explained Tao Defen.

Li Tingzhong said, "These years, pandas frequently come by our house, usually three or four times a year. Every time they eat the bones. They're very gentle and not at all afraid of people, as if they're pets we've raised. After they're done eating they'll sleep next to the pigpen or against the wall and don't wake up again until daylight the next day."

According to a village official, this panda has been spotted many times by the villagers and last year ate the corn of some of the farmers, but this was the first time the animal has entered a home.

The panda is about one meter long, weighs about 200 pounds and is around 8 years old, estimates the forestry administration. Chengdu Commercial Daily.

Comments

[Dee]

Thanks rbm, for helping me to keep up with all of these great pandas stories. Have bookmarked ChinaPanda.org.

[hbm]

Check out on Mei Lan's latest update. http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_49246d360100h76a.html

[hbm]

This wild panda didn't eat meat, it threw away the meat and ate only the bones. Perhaps it needed to replenish its body's calcium. :-) It is mentioned in this post too. http://www.chinapanda.org.cn/news/show_art.php?id=624#

[Da Sooperpanna]

I wonder if by chance this is the panda that went missing and unaccounted for after the earthquake destroyed most of the Wolong Base?

[Tiny]

How wonderful, that he felt comfortable enough to be around humans AND that he was eating meat! They truly are "Peaceful Giants" :)

[Rita]

Ya'an isn't very far from Bifengxia. I didn't know that, that side of the mountain had wild pandas. I wonder if they travelled from the other side of the mountain, where Wolong was? Its amazing in any case, that the wild pandas are not frightened of people. I suppose the people in Bifengxia know about these pandas?