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CTV News
5 days ago
- General
- CTV News
China restaurant offering tea and lion cub hugs criticized by animal groups
A lion cub born in November 2024, plays in her enclosure at Paira Daiza Zoo in Brugelette, Belgium, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Marius Burgelman) HONG KONG - A restaurant in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi offering hugs with lion cubs while diners have a four-course tea has been criticized by animal welfare groups and drawn condemnation online, however the restaurant says the cubs are well cared for. Some customers of Wanhui restaurant in Taiyuan city have posted pictures and video clips of themselves cradling lion cubs on China's WeChat and Weibo platforms. Wanhui, which opened in June, sells about 20 tickets a day to customers looking to snuggle with the animals as part of a set menu costing 1,078 yuan (US$150). The restaurant told Reuters that it did have lion cubs at the restaurant and that they were taken care of very well, with specialized carers to tend to them. While some zoos around the world, such as in Singapore or Australia, offer dining experiences near animal enclosures or views of the wildlife, it is rare for a restaurant to have direct physical interaction with wild animals. Besides the cubs, the restaurant also features llamas, turtles and deer on its page on Douyin, China's counterpart to social media app TikTok. Online comments were mostly critical, saying the Chinese restaurant venture was dangerous and not good for the animals. 'This is for the rich to play,' said one Weibo user. Another user urged action by the authorities, adding, 'The relevant departments should take care of it.' 'Tearing lion cubs from their mothers so diners can handle them over afternoon tea is exploitation, not entertainment. These animals are living, feeling beings, not toys,' People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Senior Vice President Jason Baker told Reuters. He added that the animals were 'treated like nothing more than social media props.' Peter Li, China policy expert for Humane World for Animals, said: 'Exploiting wild animals for selfies and marketing gimmicks is not only appallingly bad animal welfare, it's also potentially risky for customers.' 'Even a young lion is capable of lashing out and injuring a human. So, treating wild animals like props is both morally unacceptable and dangerously irresponsible.' Last month, Chinese authorities investigated a hotel for offering a 'wake-up service' with red pandas, state media said. The hotel in the southwestern region of Chongqing allowed the animals to climb onto beds to awaken guests. Reporting by Farah Master in Hong Kong and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Alexandra Hudson, Reuters
CTV News
14-07-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Heatwaves in Spain caused 1,180 deaths in past two months, ministry says
A tourist drinks water on a hot day at the beach in Barcelona, Spain, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File) MADRID - High temperatures caused 1,180 deaths in Spain in the past two months, a sharp increase from the same period last year, the Environment Ministry said on Monday. The vast majority of people who died were over 65 and more than half were women, the data it cited showed. The most affected regions were Galicia, La Rioja, Asturias and Cantabria - all located in the northern half of the country, where traditionally cooler summer temperatures have seen a significant rise in recent years. Like other countries in Western Europe, Spain has been hit by extreme heat in recent weeks, with temperatures often topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). The 1,180 people who died of heat-related causes between May 16 and July 13 compared with 70 in the same period in 2024, the ministry said in a statement citing data from the Carlos III Health Institute. The number of deaths increased significantly in the first week in July. The data shows an event 'of exceptional intensity, characterized by an unprecedented increase in average temperatures and a significant increase in mortality attributable to heatwaves,' the ministry said. In the period the data covers, there were 76 red alerts for extreme heat, compared with none a year earlier. Last summer, 2,191 deaths were attributed to heat-related causes in Spain, according to data from the Carlos III Health Institute. The data from Spain follows a rapid scientific analysis published on July 9 that said around 2,300 people died of heat-related causes across 12 European cities during a severe heatwave in the 10 days to July 2. It was not immediately clear whether the study conducted by scientists at Imperial College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was using the same methodology as the Spanish data. (Reporting by Pietro Lombardi; Editing by Alison Williams)
The Standard
12-07-2025
- Politics
- The Standard
State Department lays off over 1,300 employees under Trump administration plan
Former Under Secretary of State for civilian security, democracy, and human rights, Uzra Zeya, speaks during a rally outside the headquarters of the State Department, in Washington, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
CTV News
02-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
Snakes on a plane: Indian smuggler caught with venomous vipers
In this Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015 photo, an aircraft flies above the slums near the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, India. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade) A passenger smuggling dozens of venomous vipers was stopped after flying into the financial capital Mumbai from Thailand, Indian customs officials said. The snakes, which included 44 Indonesian pit vipers, were 'concealed in checked-in baggage', Mumbai Customs said in a statement late Sunday. 'An Indian national arriving from Thailand was arrested,' it added. The passenger, details of whom were not released, also had three Spider-tailed horned vipers -- which are venomous, but usually only target small prey such as birds -- as well as five Asian leaf turtles. Mumbai Customs issued photographs of the seized snakes, including blue and yellow reptiles squirming in a bucket. On 01.06.2025, officers at CSMIA seized 3 Spider-Tailed Horned Vipers & 5 Asian Leaf Turtles (CITES Appendix-II), along with 44 Indonesian Pit Vipers, concealed in checked-in baggage. An Indian national arriving from Thailand was arrested. — Mumbai Customs-III (@mumbaicus3) June 1, 2025 The snakes are a relatively unusual seizure in Mumbai, with customs officers more regularly posting pictures of hauls of smuggled gold, cash, cannabis or pills of suspected cocaine swallowed by passengers. However, in February, customs officials at Mumbai airport also stopped a smuggler with five Siamang gibbons, a small ape native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Those small creatures, listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, were 'ingeniously concealed' in a plastic crate placed inside the passenger's trolley bag, customs officers said. In November, customs officers seized a passenger carrying a wriggling live cargo of 12 turtles, and a month before, four hornbill birds, all on planes arriving from Thailand. In September, two passengers were arrested with five juvenile caimans, a reptile in the alligator family.
