 -- A rare sight was caught on video Sunday in China's Shaanxi province as villagers came across a wild giant panda near a river.

Ren Weijin saw the panda and suggested to CCTV, the state TV broadcaster in the People's Republic of China, that the animal probably just wanted something to drink.

Local officials sectioned off the area and the panda returned to the forest.

There has been intense government action to save the giant panda population in the region. The bear was recently upgraded from endangered to vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).