Niu Niu, the hobbling panda, needs an artificial paw if she is to eat shoots and leaves — or have sex.

A rescue centre has appealed to the world for help to fashion an artificial leg for the panda, who lost a paw in a fight with three other pandas.

The panda was saved by a passer-by who took the injured animal to the specialist rescue centre.

Vets treated her wounds and nursed her back to health, naming her Niu Niu, which means “Girl”. Since her capture on December 28, Niu Niu’s spirits have lifted, her wound has healed and her appetite has recovered.

Unlike her cousins in the wild, who must forage all day to eat enough of the arrow bamboo that is their favoured food, Niu Niu has a constant supply of leaves. Fed on a special diet rich in proteins while in captivity, she has gained 20kg (44lb).

Niu Niu has difficulty feeding herself because pandas need both paws to grasp the bamboo, and she requires constant help.

But that is not the only shortcoming that confronts a three-pawed panda. Her loss of balance has severely affected her love life. Without her fourth paw she cannot stand up — and that means that she is unable to mate. So staff at the rescue centre in Shaanxi province, northwest China, came up with the idea of fitting her with a prosthetic limb.

They have approached local suppliers of artificial limbs for humans to help to solve Niu Niu’s problem and are eager for advice from international experts. Ning Feng, a reporter for a local newspaper who visited Niu Niu, told The Times: “The factories have sent employees over to look at the panda. But before making any decision they need to do more research. We hope that someone in Britain may be able to help.”

The rescue centre hopes that Niu Niu can be released back into the wild once she has an artificial paw and is able to feed herself unaided.

She is the second female panda to get into trouble recently. A four-year-old, Yash-uang, escaped last month from a breeding base in the southwest, leaving through a gap in the wall in search of a mate.

Pandas usually come on heat in March and April but Yash-uang — the first panda to escape from the famed breeding base at Chengdu — was a little early because of the unusually warm winter. Zeng Zhixiang, a researcher at the centre, said: “We’ll fix up the wall and install an electric pulse network outside the panda villa to prevent them from climbing out.”

Giant facts

— China goes to great lengths to protect the giant panda, which is regarded as a national treasure

— About 1,600 are believed to survive in the wild; they are found only in nature reserves in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi

— Around 180 are being raised in captivity in zoos worldwide

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