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November 27, 2014

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Putin’s tiger slaughters 15 Chinese goats

Source: Xinhua | November 27, 2014, Thursday | Print Edition

A SIBERIAN tiger that was released into the wild by Russian President Vladimir Putin has been reported to have killed 15 goats in China.

The big cat, named Ustin, killed 13 goats at a farm on Heixiazi Island in Fuyuan county of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province on Monday night, local sources said yesterday.

The beast is believed to have killed two goats at the same farm on Sunday night.

Farm owner Guo Yulin said he was upset at the loss of the animals and fears the tiger might strike again.

Guo said he thinks his dog sensed Ustin’s arrival on Sunday as he was barking a lot, though when the farmer went to check he found nothing untoward.

It was only the next morning that he discovered two goats dead and three others missing.

“On Monday night, the tiger came back but it didn’t make any noise,’ he said.

“When I opened the goat house in the morning, there were dead goats everywhere,” Guo said.

The local forestry department has promised to compensate Guo for the loss of 18 goats.

It also advised him to reinforce the animals’ enclosures to help prevent further attacks by the tiger.

Zhu Shibing, a wildlife protection expert from Northeast Forestry University, said monitoring data and the attack all suggest that Ustin is in good physical condition and is moving through a wide range on Heixiazi Island.

Russian experts rescued five tiger cubs about two years ago, of which two were released by President Putin this year.

Information from their tracking collars showed that the cats — Ustin and Kuzya — moved into China in October.

It is estimated that worldwide there are only 600 Siberian tigers left in the wild, less than 30 of which are in China.

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