A leopard remained at large in eastern China yesterday after escaping from a safari park with two fellow big cats, sparking a frenzy online, with people sharing pictures and videos of the spotted felines roaming tea plantations in the area.
Residents of Hangzhou first reported seeing a leopard on the loose on Friday last week, with the safari park only acknowledging the escapes after the news went viral.
The park said it delayed making a public statement to avoid causing panic, but has been attacked online for allowing the animals to escape and endangering residents by not alerting the public in a timely fashion.
Photo: AFP
Local officials yesterday said that five people associated with the attraction — including its general manager — had been detained and that police had launched an investigation into the incident.
Chinese media reported that a search team was on the trail of the third leopard after paw prints believed to have been left by the cat were found on Sunday, deploying dogs and a powered parachute in the hunt for the feline.
The park has also faced criticism for a video depicting the recapture of one of the escaped cats showing a pack of at least five dogs pinning it to the ground and biting its neck as the leopard clawed desperately at them.
The zoo later released pictures purporting to show a recaptured cat back in its cage, but many social media users expressed doubt over whether the photographs were authentic or when they were taken.
Chinese zoos and wildlife parks frequently face criticism over recurring revelations of horrific conditions for animals or deadly incidents blamed on lax management.
Chinese state media in 2017 reported that a tiger killed a visitor to a wildlife park in Ningbo after the man apparently entered its enclosure, while tigers at a Beijing park killed one woman and injured another the previous year after the pair left their vehicle.
The Hangzhou park has been temporarily closed.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number