Two Siberian tigers that wandered into China after being released by Russian President Vladimir Putin are helping China's own captive animal program.

"Regardless of whether the two cats eventually settle in China, they have already helped our program to prepare tigers raised in captivity for a life in the wild," said Zhang Minghai, vice director of the Feline Research Center, affiliated to the State Bureau of Forestry.

About two years ago, Russian experts rescued five tiger cubs. Putin released three of them in early summer this year. In October, two, Kuzya and Ustin, were found, thanks to their tracking devices, to have made their way to China.

Since this discovery, Chinese and Russian experts have been monitoring the big cats, which are said to be "safe and sound" in their new adopted country. Russian experts said the two might spend the winter in China.

"There are only a handful of Siberian tigers in the wild. So, it's a rare opportunity for us to study how they will survive in their new environment," said Zhang.

"Plus, the experience has helped us to identify suitable habitats for our bred in captivity tigers," he said.

It is estimated that worldwide there are only 600 Siberian tigers left in the wild, with less than 30 in China.

Since the 1980s, China has channeled millions of dollars to save the rare cat from extinction, such as a breeding center in northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province, which neighbors Russia.

Despite its success of breeding more than 1,000 tigers from its original eight, the center is concerned how these "products of science" would fare in the wild.

"Tiger cubs are sometimes fed live chickens. Yet, it turns out that some of these ‘kings of the forest' are so frightened by the birds that they hide in the corner. It's not a joke," said Zhang.

Chinese zoologists are considering a program to train tigers that have been bred in captivity to survive in the wild. The southwestern province of Sichuan has a similar program to help captive giant pandas back to the forest.

Zhang did not give a timetable.

"We have to be careful. After all, there are fewer Siberian tigers than pandas. We will work with Russian colleagues to collect information from Kuzya and Ustin's trip to China," he said.

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