Putin’s tiger ventures across Chinese border and ‘raids henhouse’

A rare Siberian tiger, released into the wild by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a remote part of the Amur region in May, has strayed across the border into China and attacked a henhouse, according to Chinese media. The official Xinhua News Agency says the animal, known as Kuzya, was believed to have eaten five chickens in a raid on a farm in Heilongjiang province’s Luobei county over recent days. Authorities are concerned that farmers and hunters might try to hunt down the beast.

A Russian expert called to tell us the location of the tiger and expressed the hope that we can protect it.

Nature reserve director Chen Zhigang quoted by Xinhua

Chinese media didn’t give specific details how Kuzya was identified as the henhouse culprit, although she had been fitted with a tracking device that earlier alerted Russian experts of her crossing the border into China. Chinese authorities have set up dozens of cameras to try to capture images of the tiger and that they were prepared to “release cattle” into the area to feed it. Fewer than 100 of the tigers are thought to survive in the wild in China, where demand for their use in traditional Chinese medicines has driven them to the brink of extinction.

World putin tiger