Wild Siberian tiger signs found in northeast China after cub's death

Experts have found the first signs of a wild Siberian tiger living the east of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province since the death of a malnourished tiger cub in February.

Prints from a Siberian tiger were found near the site where a cattle raiser reported a calf had been mauled in the Wanda mountains near the China-Russia border, official said Friday.

Li Guidong Monday reported one of his calves had been half-eaten while grazing on a hillside at Yongfeng Forest Farm, near where the 8-month-old cub was found, said Gao Jinfang, secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) branch of the Heilongjiang provincial forestry administration.

"The pawprints at the scene showed it was an adult female tiger based on my long-term observation," said Dong Hongyu, a senior researcher with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Heilongjiang.

"I'm sure it is the one I have observed for a long time and it is the mother of the dead cub," Dong said.

It was the only wild Siberian tiger known to exist in the Wanda Mountains in east Heilongjiang, he said.

Animal conservationists say they have been tracking the tiger for five or six years in the administrative area of Dongfanghong Forestry Bureau and Yingchun Forestry Bureau.

Source:Xinhua
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