Putin’s Tiger Kuzya Returns Home

MOSCOW, December 10 (Sputnik) – A Siberian tiger, released into the wild by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is said to have returned home, after crossing the border between Russia and China, Xinhua news agency reported.

A few years ago, Russian authorities found several tiger cubs in the Ussuri Taiga near the border between Russia and China. After being rehabilitated and taught how to hunt, the tigers were released into the wild by Putin, NBC News reported.

One of the tigers, named Kuzya, has developed taste for Chinese livestock; he allegedly attacked a henhouse in north-eastern China. Kuzya’s brother Ustin has also ventured into the Chinese territory last month, killing 15 goats in a remote Chinese village last month.

These attacks raised concerns that Kuzya and Ustin might become victims of local hunters, trying to protect their livestock, and poachers, looking to benefit from the tigers’ innards and pelts that cost a fortune.

“How long before this poor tiger becomes a rug in some rich official’s house?” — one Chinese blogger posted online, as quoted by the New York Times.

Both China and Russia agreed to protect the rare animals in a joint effort. Wildlife advocates say that about 40 tigers are illegally hunted every year for their parts, used in traditional Chinese medicine. Poachers find it hard to resist, as the tiger carcasses cost as much as $10,000 in the Chinese black market, the New York Times said.

Currently, an estimated 600 Siberian tigers live in wilderness, with only about 30 of them remaining in China.