Why you should obey warning signs . . .

It seems a group of Chinese men have learned the hard way that warning signs really are erected for a purpose - even if that purpose isn't visible.

A tourist returning from hiking along the Great Wall of China decided to take a short cut by jumping down onto 'wasteland' - and was instantly killed when he landed in the jaws of a tiger.

Two friends who had been walking with the 20-year-old man, named only as Guo, stared in horror as the tiger clamped its jaws around his throat and then dragged the mauled body away.

The three men, who had been walking along the Great Wall near Beijing, decided there would a quicker way back to the starting point if they jumped from the ancient structure and cut through some bushland.

What they didn't know was that the bushy area was part of the Siberian tiger's enclosure at the Badaling Wildlife World.




As they jumped down the tiger immediately pounced and Guo was the unlucky victim.

'He was knocked to the ground, the tiger bit into his throat and he died instantly,' said a wildlife official, giving his name as Wang.

Mr Wang said a park ranger who saw the attack jumped into a jeep and chased after the tiger, which was making its escape with Guo's body still in its jaws.

The tiger finally dropped the body, as Guo's terrified friends made their escape from the enclosure by clambering over a fence.

The two men told police they had seen signs around the enclosure warning of predatory animals, the Beijing Times newspaper reporter. But they said they did not believe the warnings because there was no sign of any animals.

*Sigh*

As anyone who's lived in an area plagued with predators could have told them, you very seldom see predators. That's how they eat - by remaining out of sight until some foolish prey wanders too close to them. I guess Mr. Guo fulfilled that role, this time . . .

Peter