A Chinese zoo has been slammed for letting a three-year-old girl walk a tightrope eight metres above a tiger enclosure as six tigers wait below.

The little girl walked along the 130 metre long high wire above six hungry Siberian tigers at Changzhou Yancheng Zoo in Jiangsu province.

She was part of a routine which also involved two adult acrobats who crossed the wire using a bicycle and a ladder as props.

But the crowd gasped when three-year-old Zhang Xiaoyan started to walk along the wire, with a thin safety rope attached around her waste.

Witnesses said people screamed when she nearly lost her footing on the first step, as a strong gust of wind nearly blew her off the wire.

The little girl walked along the wire without even a pole, using just her arms for balance, as the tigers prowled below. One even jumped up towards her.

Horrified visitors criticised the zoo for putting on the stunt which they said amounted to child abuse.

"If she was my child, I would never let her do anything like that no matter how talented she is," complained one parent.

A zoo spokesman said they had hired a professional group, the Jiangxi Elite Children Arts Troupe, to put on the routine which met all safety requirements.

Zhang Shenwen, director of Jiangxi Elite Children Arts Troupe, said Xiaoyan was the world’s youngest high wire walker, and had been training since she was just one.

"She has very good psychological control," he added, saying she would retire at the age of seven to go to school and eventually planned to go to university. (Ananova/Daily Mail)

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A dog-owner has gone to amazing lengths to make sure her beloved pets live in the lap of luxury – by building them their very own mansion.

Now Chelsea, Darla and Coco Puff share an extraordinary ‘home’ that features vaulted celings, hardwood floors, heating and air conditioning, hand-made curtains and pricey wallpaper.

The dogs’ have their own beds or they can lounge on their front lawn surrounded by a white picket fence.

They even enjoy music from a classic RCA Victor radio.

Little wonder the sign over the front door reads: ‘Three spoiled dogs live here.’

Yorkies Chelsea and Coco Puff and Pomeranian Darla have their 47-year-old owner Tammy Kassis to thank for their plush pad on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

Ms Kassis, a former insurance agent, said: ‘My dogs are my life.’

She and her advertising executive husband, Sam, decided the dogs needed their own place when Cocdo Puff was almost carried away by an owl.

The couple turned to Alan Mowrer’s La Petite Maison, a builder of deluxe kennels.

Mr Mowrer has built dog houses in the style of French French châteaux, Tudor mansions and Swiss chalets.

Mrs Kassis asked him to build a replica of her own home.

She lavished $20,000 (£13,200) on the doggy mansion, icluding things like painting, landscaping, screened doors and windows, mini-blinds and ceiling fans.

When the couple decided to move home, the kennel came with them – although they had to hire a 45-ton crane and a truck to move the thing.

The three little dogs feel perfectly at home in the the tiny mansion.

She told the Los Angeles Times: ‘My mother buys them most of the outfits – she treats them like they’re grandchildren.’

The next thing on Mrs Kassis’s shopping list: a tiny plasma screen TV

‘They love to watch Animal Planet,’ Kassis says. ‘It’s their favourite.’ (AP/Daily Mail)

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Catharine Pierce has sparked complaints in her home town of Boulder, Colorado after going topless and tending to her garden while wearing just a yellow thong.

Catharine Pierce has been seen several times by neighbours wearing nothing but a thong and a pair of gloves while gardening her front lawn.

The matter was investigated by Colorado police services after the 52-year-old caused a series of complaints with her topless antics, however the authorities concluded she was not breaking any law.

The Boulder housing authority is now looking to change its rules to prevent residents gardening while nude.

Pierce’s husband Robert has stated that he will fight any changes to the rules, claiming: "They’re making a big mistake,

"We’ll stay the way we have to stay." (roundup)

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A Lithuanian man, Marium Varinauskas, has been fined for assaulting a police officer with his genitals.

The 28 year-old attempted to strike the female officer on the head after she was called out to a disturbance at his flat last year, Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard.

The Grampian Police constable, who cannot be named for legal reasons, avoided being hit in the face, prosecutors said.

Varinauskas was due to go on trial for assault but changed his plea to guilty on Tuesday.

His denied breaching the peace by uttering offensive and sexual remarks, which was accepted by prosecutors.

Police were called to self-employed engineer’s home by his girlfriend who had complained about him being drunk in November last year.

The court heard that when officers arrived they found the man sitting on the sofa wearing just a pair of underpants.

Fiscal depute Elaine Lynch, prosecuting, told the court that officers got to his Tillydrone home just before 1am on November 15 and sat on a nearby couch.

"The accused got to his feet and was standing over the police officer exposing (himself) …. forcing her to take evasive action to avoid getting struck," she said.

The court heard Varinauskas had been drinking "very heavily" and his girlfriend wanted him to leave the flat.

The court was told that he was arrested and led from the building wearing only his underwear.

"He can’t remember anything but accepts that if that’s what the police say then that’s what happened," said John Hardie, defending.

"He has never been so drunk before that day and accepts he has to take full responsibility.

"He apologises profusely and is extremely embarrassed."

Speaking after the attack, Varinauskas said: "I had too much to drink and don’t remember anything.

"I was going to bed and was just wearing my pants.

"I feel quite bad about it all but it’s difficult to say anything because I don’t remember."

Sheriff Annella Cowan was told the Lithuanian had now quit binge drinking because of the incident.

She fined him £600. (BBC/Telegraph)

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A Peruvian surfer has spent a decade training dogs to ride the nose of his board when he catches waves, and now he is the first to do so with an alpaca.

Domingo Pianezzi, 44, has slowly introduced his alpaca Pisco, a domesticated Andean highland animal that resembles a small llama, to the waters of the Pacific Ocean over the past several months.

The duo caught three waves on a yellow 10-foot longboard on Tuesday at a small break south of Lima, Peru’s capital. Pisco, wearing a flotation vest, crouched on the board while taking off on each wave and cruised for a few seconds before bailing into the water with a bit of a fright.

Mr Pianezzi, who teaches surfing to children and has competed before at international contests for people and their surfing dogs, came up with the idea of hitting the waves with an alpaca while visiting Australia.

"I’ve surfed with a dog, a parrot, a hamster and a cat, but when I was at a competition in Australia I saw people surfing with kangaroos and koalas," said Mr Pianezzi, who trains the alpaca in the Peruvian beach town of San Bartolo.

"So I thought that, as a Peruvian, it would be interesting to surf with a unique animal that represents Peru."

Peruvians raise alpacas, a species of South American camelid, primarily for their warm wool and occasionally for food.

Mr Pianezzi said some San Bartolo residents have accused him of mistreating Pisco by taking a mountain animal into the ocean. Others, however, regard him as an innovator.

There are other hurdles.

Unlike a labrador, an alpaca does not instinctively jump into the sea for a swim.

However, Pisco, named after the distinctive Peruvian liquor distilled from grapes, is getting used to the water, according to Mr Pianezzi. (roundup)

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A Chinese man took his girlfriend to visit an aquarium and then shocked her with a surprise proposal – from inside the tank.

Wang Jian, 28, had been taking diving lessons in secret from girlfriend Xie Wenzhen, 24, for two months.

He told her they were going to witness a friend propose at the Fuzhou Zuohai Aquarium, in Fuzhou, Fujian province.

"Jian said we should go along to get some tips – then he left me in front of the giant water tank saying he was going to get some drinks," said Miss Xie.

"Suddenly a boy holding a bunch of flowers appeared in the water, and two other divers behind him opened a scroll, reading: "Please marry me!".

"I was totally stunned, as I realised that the man in the tank was my boyfriend. I never expected I would be taking such a leading role in the proposal. I’m so happy."

Miss Xie put her hands to Mr Wang’s and then kissed him through the aquarium glass to signal her acceptance. (Straits News)

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True love can take many forms. In this case, it has taken the form of a Korean man falling in love with, and eventually marrying, a large pillow with a picture of a woman on it.

Lee Jin-gyu fell for his ‘dakimakura’ – a kind of large, huggable pillow from Japan, often with a picture of a popular anime character printed on the side.

In Lee’s case, his beloved pillow has an image of Fate Testarossa, from the ‘magical girl’ anime series Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

Now the 28-year-old otaku (a Japanese term that roughly translates to somewhere between ‘obsessive’ and ‘nerd’) has wed the pillow in a special ceremony, after fitting it out with a wedding dress for the service in front of a local priest. Their nuptials were eagerly chronicled by the local media.

‘He is completely obsessed with this pillow and takes it everywhere,’ said one friend.

‘They go out to the park or the funfair where it will go on all the rides with him. Then when he goes out to eat he takes it with him and it gets its own seat and its own meal,’ they added.

The pillow marriage is not the first similarly-themed unusual marriage in recent times – it comes after a Japanese otaku married his virtual girlfriend Nene Anegasaki, a character who only exists in the Nintendo DS game Love Plus, last November. (roundup)

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A South Korean who stole 1,200 pairs of expensive shoes from funeral homes while posing as a mourner has been arrested.

The man identified only as Park, 59, took off his own shoes before entering mourning rooms and donned more expensive footwear when he left.

He intended to sell them through his own second-hand shoe business.

Koreans normally remove outdoor footwear when indoors, especially at funeral homes.

Police said they caught Park stealing three pairs of shoes, worth a total of two million won (1,750 dollars) when new, at one funeral home.

They then raided his warehouse and found 1,200 pairs stored according to size in preparation for resale.

A Suseo police officer who declined to be named said the station had put the footwear on display for the past week and many pairs were reclaimed by owners. (AFP)

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A strip club in America has found a novel way to raise money for a good cause and improve its image – by holding a ‘Lap dances for Haiti’ event, raising almost $1,000 (£640) for earthquake victims.

Nude strip club Marilyn’s on Monroe (which is on Monroe Street in Toledo, Ohio, you see) donated all the money from Sunday’s $10 cover charge to the International Services of Hope charity.

The name of the event was, in fact, somewhat misleading – while strip clubs are legal in Ohio, lap-dances are not.

The club’s manager, Kenny Soprano (yes, that’s what he’s called), said it had been hard to find a charity that would accept money from a strip joint. He said Marilyn’s had been considering a charity fund-raiser since before the Haiti earthquake to help improve the club’s reputation.

Linda Greene, the CEO of International Services of Hope, told the Toledo Blade that she was happy to accept donations from an adult establishment. ‘I don’t have a problem with it,’ she said. (Metro)

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Visiting a wildlife park is often an opportunity to witness nature up close.

But imagine one group of tourist’s surprise when several hungry tigers tucked into a live cow right in front of them.

These pictures show the shocking moment tourist guides fed a live cow to five hungry tigers.

The shocked visitors watched from the safety of their buses as the fearsome beasts launched into a feeding frenzy.

The cow had been dumped from the back of a truck and made a brave attempt to escape before being overcome by the powerful tigers.

Amateur photographer Chris Geddes, 31, captured the images on a trip to the Siberian Tiger Park, in Harbin, China, which was spread across several square kilometres of land.

He said: ‘I had heard that the Siberian Tiger Park was a famous tourist attraction in the area and I jumped at the chance to go.’

Father-of-one Chris, from Ontario, Canada, said park staff threw meat to the tigers and then released three live chickens and a pheasant.

Orthopaedic surgeon Chris said when he and his friend came to leave the park they spotted a ‘menu’ with prices for various animals to be thrown to the tigers alive.

Chickens were available for just £3.50, while a cow was on offer for £130. (Daily Mail)

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