Warmth Spells Bad News For Chinese Winter Fest
Ice and snow sculptures carved by nearly 10,000 artists in the city of Harbin have melted during the sudden warm spell, forcing the earliest closure of the main venue at China’s biggest winter festival, according to a Reuters report.
Daytime temperatures peaked above freezing in northern China’s warmest week this winter, prompting the closure of the Harbin Ice and Snow World, more than 10 days ahead of schedule.
The winter park in Harbin, a northeastern city known for its bitterly cold weather, had attracted more than one million visitors since it opened on December 23.
Some visitors who made bookings to marvel at mini ice replicas of the Colosseum and the Milan Cathedral were disappointed by the early closure. Last year the park shut on March 10. Park tickets have been refunded, said a park official.
The Harbin winter festival has drawn millions of visitors from around the world every year since its inception in the early 1980s. It is a key source of tourism revenue for Harbin, a landlocked city in the province of Heilongjiang. The Harbin Ice and Snow World first opened in 1999.
Brawling Over A Crab Leg Row
A dispute over crab legs at a dinner buffet ended in a brawl that left two people facing misdemeanor charges, according to Alabama police, says a re4port.
Huntsville police officer Gerald Johnson says he was eating at the Meteor Buffet restaurant when a fight broke out, says the AP report.
Johnson told WHNT-TV that diners were using service tongs like fencing swords and plates were shattering, and a woman was beating a man.
Johnson says diners had been waiting in line for crab legs for more than 10 minutes, and they lost their tempers once the food came out.
The station reports Chequita Jenkins is charged with assaulting John Chapman, who suffered a cut on his head. Chapman is charged with disorderly conduct.
A Wolf In Dog’s Clothing
Estonian construction workers got the shock of their lives when they found out the animal they saved from an icy river was not a dog but a wolf, says a report.
Rando Kartsepp, Robin Sillamae and Erki Vali said they were working at the Sindi dam on the frozen Parnu River in southwestern Estonia when they saw an animal frantically swimming in a maze of ice, says an AP report.
They rescued the ice-coated animal and took it to a shelter.
A hunter told them it was about a one-year old male wolf suffering from shock and hypothermia.
The young wolf recovered after a day and was released back into the wild with a GPS collar.
Hunt On For 45-kg Pet Tortoise
A well-fed tortoise has disappeared and its owner is frantically looking for it, says a report.
A New Mexico woman is on a desperate hunt for her disappearing pet that can’t run fast and can’t be missed — a 45-kg tortoise, says the AP report.
Dusty the Turtle went missing last month in Roswell, New Mexico, after strong winds knocked open a gate that housed him.
Shana Emmert, who was pet sitting Dusty for her niece, says she believes the turtle strolled away from the backyard and into the desert during the wind storm.
According to Emmert’s neighbors, the 45-kg Dusty was last spotted near Berrendo Creek in Roswell and hasn’t been seen since. The family is offering a $500 reward for the turtle’s safe return.
Dead Animals Do Kick
There was life in a dead cow yet as a worker at a slaughterhouse in Germany found out, says a report.
Police in southern Germany say the slaughterhouse worker suffered serious injuries after being kicked in the face by a dead cow.
In a statement, police said the cow was “killed according to regulations” at an abattoir in Aalen, and hung from a meat hook for further processing.
Police said the carcass then kicked the man in the face, apparently due to a nerve impulse that experts say isn’t uncommon.
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