That did happen in Christchurch a few decades ago, when boys who later were the nucleus of the Harris Gang, and whose family had a small circus, created mayhem by taking a leashed lion for walks on the beaches near Kaiapoi. Locals thought that a lady who saw this and reported it to the Christchurch Press had fallen into dementia, and that big cat tracks on the beach were hoaxes.

Yes, the reaction to Morgan’s cats message has been loud. He had a rational argument, and I think Morgan’s partly right, after viewing the TV report of the stray cat colonies human volunteers feed and house on public reserves around Auckland. However, I’d rather have a cat plague than a rat plague.

I could probably find out how much one costs

(It’s also bizarre coming back to NZ and finding out how unpopular Gareth Morgan has suddenly become)

Siberian tigers are magnificent. Let’s put the hat around, buy one, get it speyed and then couriered to Gareth Morgan.

It’s in Heilong Jiang at a Safari Park. This is China’s big northern province. Ironically, many of Russia’s tigers came from China in the 1940s, because the Russians were busy exterminating them in Siberia at the time. Jilin is the province closest to Vladivostok. I’ve been to the reserves on the border there, but best I saw was some pug-marks and scat. The safari park is greatly improved from my 2008 visit. The enclosures have been enlarged and improved.

The area is having a bit of a heat-wave by local standards- it was -16 the week before we turned up. Pics were taken last week (Tuesday).

The tricky bit was I only had a Nex camera with me (most of expedition was researching another issue, rather than taking pics). The CADF system is ok for resting or slow moving subjects, but much slower than an SLR PADF system. So, I got no keepers on the ‘action’ shots.

Was the tiger on the reserve on the China border near Vladivostok?

their body warmth won’t melt the snow)

Wot, just like Helen Clark?

definitely Siberian, I was there. You do notice little things like the difference between +4.4 C and -25C

@Elaycee

Aah, hungry tigers. That’s a different story. As a safety tip, try not to go into tiger territory with women who are enamoured with tigers. They’re much slower picking up danger signs…

@RRM

Hmm, this may come as a surprise to you, but the pollution in China- even up in the far north, is a little on the high side. This has environmental effects
(The fur though, is a superb insulator. They can lie on the snow and be so well insulated, their body warmth won’t melt the snow)

But -25 C ??? Bugger that!

Cold winter weather is currently sending shivers across northern India after the capital had its coldest day in 44 years. We’ve also seen heavy snowfall over the higher ground and dense fog has blanketed a good part of the region, causing travel chaos in the process.

The temperature in New Delhi struggled to reach a high of 9.8 Celsius on Wednesday, making it the coldest day here since 1969. Overnight the temperature fell to just 4.4 Celsius, which is cold enough for a touch of ground frost. The India Meteorological Department said temperatures across the north were 4 to 10 degrees Celsius below normal.

The authorities say that more than 100 people have died of exposure as northern India deals with the bitter cold. At least 114 people have died from the cold in the state of Uttar Pradesh so far; 23 of those died in the past 24 hours.