Wandering Siberian tiger returns to Russia
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E-mail Xinhua, March 27, 2013
A wild Siberian tiger from Russia that crossed a border river and entered Chinese territory in early March has returned to Russia, local forestry authorities said Tuesday.
The tiger, which is believed to be male, crossed the frozen Wusuli River, which borders China and Russia, on March 8, said Yang Lijuan, head of the wild animal protection department under the Dongfanghong Forestry Administration in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
Yang confirmed that the tiger left Chinese territory on Sunday after more than 10 days of tracking the animal.
Russian authorities had asked the Chinese side to aid in finding the tiger, a search that became more difficult after the tiger's GPS collar fell off several days after it crossed the border, Yang said.
A team of 50 people was assembled to search for the tiger, she said.
"We tracked the tiger to the riverside. Its footprints are very clear," Yang said. "You could say we watched the tiger go back to his home country."
The incident marked the first time for a wild Siberian tiger from Russia to enter Heilongjiang's Wanda Mountains while wearing a GPS collar.
The establishment of a transborder nature reserve would be conducive to increasing the number of wild Siberian tigers, Yang said.
Siberian tigers, one of the world's rarest animal species, mainly live in far eastern Russia, northeast China and northern parts of the Korean Peninsula. Less than 500 Siberian tigers currently live in the wild.
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