Messages like this don't arrive in our inboxes very often thank goodness, but the message below from Saladin Zhu, our China PR new media officer, shows that one little boy had a very lucky escape last weekend:

"Last Sunday, about 4 pm, Mr Xue Zhi Lin just finished feeding the bears in Special Bear Care House besides the Pi River when he heard the cry for help from the other side of the river. Four children played in the shallow but one swam too far and reached the centre of river. It's flood season, although no flood yet, the water was still too deep for a ten-year-old child.

Mr Xue heard the other three children's cry for help, so he climbed over the barbed wire at the border of CBRC [China Bear Rescue Centre] and jumped into the river. Then he swam across the river and got the drowning kid back to shore.

Xue Zhi Lin is one of the keepers in Special Bear Care House, taking care of ChuChu and Crystal and other old bears."

Mr Xue was incredibly brave as the River Pi carries a strong current in all it's twists and turns around our sanctuary. A hero for the bears, now a hero for one little boy so lucky to be found so quickly - a big thank you Xue Zhi Lin!