Chinese woman apologises after photographs of her petting giant panda cub cause upset online
- Social media users outraged at images posted by university student
- Wildlife reserve asks visitors not to feed or touch the animals
A Chinese woman has apologised for upsetting social media users after posting a picture of herself petting a giant panda cub at a wildlife reserve in southwest China.
“My careless behaviour out of love of pandas caused this misunderstanding,” the university student, identified only as Han, wrote on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, on Sunday.
“I’ve always been an animal-lover and have two dogs … In the future I will be cautious and contribute to animal protection efforts.”
A week earlier, Han had posted a photograph of her stroking the young bear at the Shenshuping base of the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan province.
The image, which showed only her hand and the cub, was captioned: “We met halfway and I finally petted a panda baby secretly!”
Signs at the centre ask visitors not to feed or pet the pandas.