Wild Siberian tiger eats oxes in NE China

HARBIN - A wild Siberian tiger has reportedly eaten several oxes in the past week in two forest farms of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, local authorities said Wednesday.

Two people called forestry police last Wednesday and Friday to report that their oxes had been eaten by wild animals in two forest farms under the Huanan Forestry Administration and that plum-blossom-shape footprints were discovered.

An investigation revealed that the footprints at the two sites were the same, according to Wang Yulun, a police officer from the Huanan forest police bureau.

The animal was confirmed to be a mature wild Siberian tiger above three years old after analysis of the footprints, according to Jiang Guangshun, deputy director of the feline animal research center under the State Forestry Administration.

It is 19 years since a wild Siberian tiger was last found in the west Wandashan mountain area, about 200 km away from the China-Russian border where the big cat frequently appeared.

A migration channel for the tigers across the east and west of the Wandashan mountain and a new habitat have been formed thanks to the reduction of logging activities in the area, said Sun Haiyi, deputy director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Wildlife Research Institute.

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