This footage shows a wild panda that climbed up a tree to escape two wild dogs while a villager distracted them.
Baoxing County resident Li Jun from south-western China’s Sichuan Province found the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) grazing in the bamboo forests outside his home.
Video Credit: AsiaWire
Li, 45, said: “I was roasting Chinese medicinal herbs when I heard dogs barking.”
He rushed over to drive the two dogs away as the panda darted up the nearest tree.
Li said: “It may be fat, but it’s very fast. It climbed that tree in seconds.”
The villager called forestry police, as authorities had instructed him to do in case of a panda sighting, and then went on to guard the national treasure from below.
Video filmed on Li’s mobile phone shows him shouting at the confused panda in local Sichuan dialect as it sits high in the tree.
He can be heard saying: “You are the pride of China! You are a Baoxing treasure! I’ll protect you!”
He adds: “Don’t run! Don’t worry! We’ve already called the forestry bureau. They’ll be here soon. We won’t touch a single hair on you.”
Li says the panda bear stayed there for an hour before finally climbing down and running away into the bamboo forests.
Forestry authorities who eventually arrived said the animal looked to be a healthy specimen about two to three years of age.
Li said it was his first panda sighting this year – after he saw two wild specimens in 2018.
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Story By: Scott Feng, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: AsiaWire
