A wild panda wandered into the city of Dujiangyan in Sichuan Province on Saturday and caused a bit of a panic with locals.

After a chase that lasted several hours, the endangered animal was caught and returned to the wild.

The saga began in the early hours of Saturday morning when a group of young men drinking beer at a food stall saw something nimbly climb over a 3-meter-high fence and enter a housing estate.

They gave chase to what they thought was a thief. A little later, a female stallholder exclaimed, "That's a panda!"

Residents blockaded entrances to the estate, while others went in search of the panda. It was found sitting calmly on the roof of a bungalow.

But when people tried to approach it, the panda got up and started jumping from roof to roof.

A woman surnamed Xu living in a nearby block of flats said she was woken up by the noise of falling tiles.

"The panda was amazingly agile and totally different from those at the zoos," Xu said.

Several hours later, police received a report that the panda was in a river.

Animal rescuers followed the panda as it slowly swam downstream.

About two kilometers downriver, the panda hauled itself out of the river and up into a tree to rest.

At 10:00 AM the next morning, the panda was tranquilized.

Firemen removed the panda and the animal was sent back into the wild.

(China Daily July 18, 2005)