The incident took place in the outskirts of the Melnichnoye village of the Krasnoarmeisk region, Chief State Inspector of the preserve Vladimir Podlubny disclosed to a RIA Novosti correspondent on Sunday.
On Friday after the evening fishing on the Kolumbe river Igor Sharapov was returning to the village, situated less than a kilometer from the river.
All of a sudden a powerful blow in the back knocked him down on the ground. The next moment he saw a tiger attacking him.
In a fight Igor Sharov started to strangle and kick the tiger. The tiger, having inflicted Mr. Sharov numerous bites and lacerated wounds, bit through his head retreated and disappeared in the nearby bushes.
However, bleeding Igor Sharov made it to the village. On Saturday at about 5 a.m. the injured inspector was delivered to a hospital in the Plastun village, where he had a 6-hour surgical operation. All in all, about 150 stitches were put on him.
Currently, doctors estimate his condition as bad. The injuries were thoroughly cleansed, although there is still a danger of infection brought into the body with the tiger's fangs and claws.
According to Mr. Podlubny, during the winter residents of the village saw on many occasions a female tiger with her two 1-year-old cubs.
There were some gossips later that this spring the female tiger was killed by poachers and it's possible that the state inspector had been attacked by one of her hungry cubs.
Hunters from the Melnichnoye village failed to find the tiger at the scene of the attack.
