BEIJING -- A bear in central China has bitten off the arm of a 9-year-old boy who tried to feed it through its cage, state media and a doctor said Sunday.

Media reports said the attack happened Saturday afternoon at Pingdingshan Hebin Park in Henan province, which has a zoo inside. The boy managed to push his arm through the bear's cage to feed it when the bear bit him.

A doctor at the Pingdingshan Number 152 Hospital, who treated the boy, said Sunday that he lost his entire right arm, which had to be amputated.

Calls to the park and local forestry bureau were not answered.