Adorable needy panda refuses to let zookeeper go, clings desperately to his leg

A video of a rather needy giant panda from Everland Zoo in Yongin, South Korea, emerged earlier this week and has quickly gone viral. In the video, the six-month-old giant panda named Fu Bao is seen clinging to a zookeeper's leg as he walks about performing his tasks. When the zookeeper does his best to move the panda off of his leg, she dramatically falls over as if all hope is lost. This is only one of the adorable videos of Fu Bao posted online. Although visitors to the zoo near Seoul have been able to see the panda cub since January, staff members of the zoo have been uploading videos of the cub on their social media channels ever since she was born in July last year, the Daily Mail reports.

Fu Bao, whose name means "a treasure that brings happiness," is the first of her kind to be born in South Korea. In the video, she is swept around the room as her caretaker moves around the enclosure at the Everland Zoo. The keeper then proceeds to weigh the giant panda cub, who currently weighs in at 22 pounds, on a weighing scale in front of a pile of bamboo shoots. The zookeeper hoists her over his leg. When the weigh-in is complete, the keeper attempts to push Fu Bao towards the ground, to no avail. After several such attempts, he finally uncoils her strong arms from his leg. She proceeds to roll back on the floor in the most dramatic fashion ever.

Social media users across the world have enjoyed the video. Fu Bao was featured on several news channels, including CBS News. One Twitter user posted, "Oh my God! Someone needs to just sit and cuddle that poor little thing until it gets tired of being held." Another cheekily asked, "What's the salary for a panda hugger?" Someone even discovered a new career path. "I wanna be a zookeeper that works with pandas!" they exclaimed.

Fu Bao is the daughter of seven-year-old female Ai Bao and eight-year-old male Le Bao. Both parents were gifted to South Korea in 2016 through a "panda diplomacy" agreement signed during a summit between Beijing and Seoul. When she was first born, the cub required intensive veterinary care. Thankfully, she has since fully recovered. Typically, China "leases" their pandas to foreign countries as diplomatic gifts on five-year terms. As per Beijing's policy, any and all cubs born to pandas on loan overseas belong to China. Therefore, Fu Bao will need to be returned to China soon.