Environment     

Endangered wild tiger eats boar in China

Xinhua, October 16, 2013

• A wild Siberian tiger is confirmed to have killed and eaten a wild boar in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the latest trace of the endangered cats in the country, wildlife researchers said Tuesday.

  A worker at the Baomashan Forestry Farm spotted the body of a half-eaten wild boar, with some animal droppings and hair nearby on Oct. 6, said Zhou Shaochun, associate researcher with the Heilongjiang Provincial Wildlife Research Institute.

  The remaining half of the body was eaten later, with only the skull and internal organs left.

  Zhou arrived at the scene on Oct. 9, and took samples of the droppings and hair, confirming they belonged to a Siberian tiger.

  "The waste, hair and pawprints at the scene all confirm it was a wild Siberian tiger," he said.

  Further details, such as the tiger's gender and age, will be revealed later by a DNA test.

  Baomashan Forestry Farm is located in the Wanda Mountain, where the big cat frequently appears.

  Siberian tigers, one of the world's rarest mammals, mainly live in eastern Russia and northeast China and northern parts of the Korean Peninsula. Less than 500 Siberian tigers currently live in the wild, with less than 20 in China.

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