March 12, 2009
Cat lovers gathered at Beijing Tiantan Hospital yesterday morning to protest the hospital’s treatment of stray cats, today’s Beijing Times reports. According to the hospital, it made the decision to clear all cats off its property after one of them caused short circuit that resulted in a five-minute blackout.
One of the protesters told the newspaper that she had witnessed two hospital security guards chasing cats with bricks in their hands, despite her pleas for them to stop.
After four hours’ negotiation, the hospital and the protesters eventually reached a deal: animal lovers would take responsibility for capturing the cats, cleaning and sterilizing them, and removing them from hospital grounds. In turn, the hospital agreed to pay 50 yuan for each cat that was captured.
March 12, 2009
A follow-up story in the sidebar concerns a different kind of cat, the Siberian tiger that killed a man who entered Badaling Wild Animal World on May 8. The dead man’s family sued the zoo for failing to post proper warnings on the 3-meter high fence surrounding the property. Yesterday, a court in Beijing ruled that the zoo was not guilty.
Even so, the zoo announced that it would pay the family 80,000 yuan “out of sympathy.”
The front page of The Beijing News highlighted a deadly accident that took place yesterday in Danyang, Jiangsu Province. Eleven construction workers were killed by an explosion that took down the two-story factory building serving as their temporary dormitory.
The article suspected that explosion was caused by chemicals left over from an aluminum factory that once occupied the building.
- Beijing Times (Chinese): Cat lovers protest a Beijing hospital dispelling cats
- The Beijing News (Chinese): Explosion collapsed dormitory, left 11 workers killed