Escaped Siberian tiger brought back to park

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, September 23, 2003

Escaped Siberian tiger brought back to park

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After injuring a farmer and remaining at large for three days, an escaped Siberian tiger returned to a tiger park in the Changbai Mountains in Jilin Province, northeast China, early Tuesday morning, police said.

Surrounded and escorted by local forest rangers, the tiger madeits way back to the park at about 3:00 a.m., according to rangers of the Baihe bureau of forest security.

"The situation is well under control," a spokesman from the bureau said, adding that the tiger is being looked after by the park keepers and had devoured a calf fed it on its return.

The tiger used a pine tree to jump over the park's four-meter-high wire netting fence at about 3:00 p.m. Saturday and attacked Jiang Fengbo, a farmer who was plucking pine nuts outside the park.

Jiang suffered injuries to his trachea and thigh, and fracturesto his cervical vertebra during the tiger attack.

A doctor with the No. 2 People's Hospital of Antu County, whereJiang is being treated, said that he was in stable condition and now can speak. But he said further medical observations are neededto see whether Jiang is completely out of danger.

The tiger was later shot and injured after being besieged in a forest near the park by dozens of policemen.

Established in July 2002 with the approval of the local forestry bureau, the Siberian Tiger Park in the Changbai Mountainsnow is home to 12 adult tigers and four tiger cubs.

This was the second time that tigers in the park attacked and hurt human beings since it went into operation more than one year ago.

On Nov. 18 last year, Liu Jinling, a worker with the park, entered the park in violation of safety regulations and was killedby a tiger. Relatives of Liu were paid about 100,000 yuan (12,000 US dollars) in compensation.

The Siberian tiger is among the world's 10 most endangered species, with only about 400 living in the wild in Russia's Far East and China's northeast, a number far less than that of giant pandas.

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