In this Tuesday, March 30, 2010 photo, a tiger jumps to catch a Chinese circus performer, clinging on to a ladder above the tiger den at a zoo in Changzhou in east China's Jiangsu province.The Associated Press
Chinese authorities have cancelled a high-wire act that featured a three-year-old toddling along above a pen filled with Siberian tigers, according to news reports.
Photos of the bizarre act performed at a zoo in Changzhou in east China's Jiangsu province were released in late March, and according to the Associated Press media reports of the act forced the Chinese government to act.
Western media reported the director of the Jiangxi Elite Children Arts Troupe defended the child's involvement, "Xiaoyan has been training since she was one," said Zhang Shenwen. "She has very good psychological control." One visitor said: "It was terrifiying. She seemed unsteady and on her first step was nearly blown off."
In the same performance one of the tigers leapt almost 10 feet into the air and grabbed at the foot of the ladder (see photo above).
With files from The Associated Press