Panda bite victim in China receives $83,000 from local government


Pandas are cute and may look cuddly, but they have strong jaw muscles and large molar teeth that they aren’t afraid to use against people — something Guan Quanzhi learned the hard way.
A panda made its way into Liziba, a village in the northwestern province of Gansu, last March and ran onto Guan's land as officials tried to capture it, the Lanzhou Evening News reports. Guan said the panda jumped out in front of him, covered in mud, and bit him in the leg, only letting go after another villager threw a coat over its head. The panda ended up escaping.
Guan had to undergo seven hours of surgery, and could have more operations in the future. His lawyer, Wang Chaohui, told Agence France-Presse that officials agreed to pay him 520,000 yuan, or $83,000, in compensation and that money will cover his medical bills.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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