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SUPER TYPHOON MERANTI sent a massive inflatable moon bobbing through the streets of southern China’s Fuzhou, smothering cars and sending at least one motorcyclist fleeing for cover, as the powerful storm lashed the mainland.
Footage broadcast by state television showed the inflatable moon bowling over traffic in the city with the typhoon packing winds of 170 kilometres per hour (105 miles per hour).
AFP was unable to confirm where the moon originated from and what fate the inflatable object eventually met.
According to local media in Shanghai however, the moon is one of many mini model lunar orbs set up in public spaces around the vast country for the mid-Autumn festival, making up for the fact that the actual moon is shrouded in cloud due to ongoing bad weather.
The Xinhua news agency has described the storm as the most powerful to hit Fujian province in at least 67 years, with meteorological records only going back to the founding of communist China in 1949.
Local media described windows broken by flying roof tiles with fragments littering pavements and water supplies cut.
Officials had earlier urged people to stay at home and ordered ships to return to port as Meranti bore down on the mainland, having lashed Taiwan yesterday.
The storm left one person dead and 38 injured after skirting past the island’s southern tip, with the strongest winds recorded there in 21 years.
With reporting from Darragh Peter Murphy.
Cats should have the same legal protection as dogs regarding cruelty. I’ve had two poisoned by pigeon keepers in the past two years and caught two young girls taking and trying to throw my old blind cat in to traffic recently. I hope the folks who do this get rat and mouse infestations!
I do get this is cats in the wild but serious cruelty is going on all the time!
Are your cats going into a pigeon coups? Or other people’s yards? You should be stopping them
You can’t stop instinct.
Well if you read her comment fully you would know it can be stopped..
Irishoversea
I was responding to Mark Ryan .
They shouldn’t be left out then. The least people should do is put a bell on their collar. They are basically an invasive species when wandering around on their own killing small wild animals.
Great work by the ISPCA. Shame on the owners who caused this.
Heartbreaking, poor little things.
Very hard to st this kind of thing happening when irresponsible owners let unnuetered uncollared pets roam uncontrolled.
Cats are social animals, so were they all feral???
Sad news on international cats day! Or any other day.
We are behind in this country in terms of animal cruelty. Every few days another story of savagry but never any convictions. Its also cruel to let cats roam wild and to think that you’re “looking after them” by throwing out a tin of food every few days. Sadly too many people do this. The biggest killer of wildlife in Ireland is the domestic cat turned feral. Poisoning is not the answer but I would defend pigeon keepers dealing with problem cats. I have a bird pen and cats do the most damage – but its nearly always a neglected feral one infested with mange and fleas.
People should know where there cats are – I have cousins who had their cat shot by a farmer for attacking chickens, they hadnt a clue where the cat had been going. Yes cats are social animals but you are responsible for your pet also – like everyone blames the owners when dogs attack sheep and rightly so. Double standard by many cat owners.
This would never be allowed to happen in Kilkenny.
I love good pussy
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