Zheng was attacked by a six-year-old male Siberian tiger who had escaped from his cage on October 3 in the Siberian Tiger Park in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang Province.

The tiger wounded Zheng in the neck and he died on the way to the hospital.

The day before the accident, the tiger had been wounded in the ear in a fight with other tigers and had been locked up. An investigation team believed that the tiger managed to open the lock on his cage.

Security measures will be improved to avoid any more accidents of this kind, said Wang Ligang, the tiger park's manager.

(Xinhua News Agency October 20, 2002)