Sources with the zoo say the bears were first attacked by a 21-year-old electromechanical major, Liu Haiyang on January 19.

Liu, a good student who has passed the national graduate examination, is a Beijing resident. He said that he had read about the bear's acute sense of smell, which he thought contradicted the popular belief that bears are stupid.

"I wanted to test whether or not they really are stupid," he said and this led him to pour a mixture with caustic soda stolen from his school laboratory over the black bears.

After the first experiment, despite the agony of wounded bears, Liu started planning a second trial. He added sulfuric acid he purchased from a pharmacy to two bottles of drink and went to the zoo again on Saturday. There he poured the mixture over more bears while pretending to be feeding them.

He was apprehended on the spot and taken to the police station.

Wang Baoqiang, deputy head of the zoo, told Xinhua that the five affected bears have had difficulty seeing, eating and walking since the attack.

No progress report has been given on the black bear burnt on Saturday.

An upset staff member Chen Qingshan said, "I've seen this bear grow up and he is the best male breeder here. I don't know whether he will continue to be so now."

All five bears which include two brown bears are on the international list for priority protected animals.

Altogether there are 14 bears in the capital's zoo, said Wang. Liu said he has been living alone with his mother since his parents divorced.

According to the Chinese law, offense causing injury to rare species of animals are punished with a jail term of one to 10 years or above and a fine.

Local police say that so far no judgment has been made.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2002)