# Gu Gu

Gu Gu (Chinese: 古 古; 25 September 1999 – 16 January 2025) was a male giant panda at the Beijing Zoo, born on 25 September 1999 at the Wolong National Nature Reserve. He received international attention for incidents in which he attacked zoo visitors who trespassed into his enclosure.

## First incident

On 19 September 2006, six year old Gu Gu bit a drunk Chinese man who had jumped into his enclosure and tried to hug him. Zhang Xinyan, a migrant worker from the central Henan province, had drunk several beers before arriving at the zoo. He cleared the railing around the enclosure, managed to approach the panda undetected, and moved to hug him. The bear bit Zhang on both legs. In an attempt to stop the attack, Zhang said that he "...bit the panda on its back but its fur was too thick." Zoo officials sedated Gu Gu by spraying him with water. Zhang was hospitalized after the incident. The zoo reported that besides a one-and-a-half-day loss of appetite, Gu Gu was unharmed.

## Second incident

A second incident occurred on 23 October 2007, when 15-year-old Li Xitao jumped the barrier and climbed into the panda exercise area where Gu Gu and another bear were being fed. He startled the 240-pound panda, who reacted by biting the boy on both legs, ripping chunks of flesh from both of them. Li, who was from Hebei province in northeast China and made a living in Beijing selling recyclables found on the street, had climbed into the panda enclosure out of "curiosity". According to medical officials, Li was so viciously attacked that his bones were showing, and bits of flesh were left behind in the ambulance. The attack was reported by witnesses to have lasted three to four minutes. Li was taken to the Beijing Children's Hospital. A zoo official named Zhang was quoted as saying "We have to prepare against such behavior," and that visitors should "act properly when visiting and love the animals." Zoo officials were reportedly considering unspecified measures to prevent further incidents. However, Zhang stated that the barrier around the exercise area could not be raised higher because it would block the view of the pandas.

## Third incident

On 7 January 2009, Gu Gu again attacked another zoo visitor who climbed over the barrier into the enclosure to retrieve his five year old son’s dropped toy. Zhang Jiao of Anhui province, like the previous two trespassers, sustained bite injuries to his legs and was hospitalized, where he had surgery for damage to major ligaments. According to witnesses, Zhang appeared to first look around to see if pandas were nearby before jumping in to get the toy. Zoo workers were forced to use tools to pry Gu Gu's jaws apart when he would not let go of Zhang's legs. The repeated incidents involving the panda resulted in CNN describing Gu Gu as "not your typical soft and cuddly giant panda".

## Visit by Melania Trump

In 2017, First Lady of the United States Melania Trump visited the Beijing Zoo during a trip to China, where she was allowed to meet and feed Gu Gu. She later signed a poster featuring the bear.

## Illness and death

In early 2024, Gu Gu was moved to a non-public section of the Beijing Zoo to help him cope with medical conditions caused by aging. He died from heart and liver failure on 16 January 2025, at the age of 25.