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Putin’s Tiger Invades China Looking For Tail

Melissa Brown Contributor
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A rare Siberian Tiger released by Russian President Vladimir Putin has emigrated from Russia to China and may be in danger. A tiger official says the tiger crossed the river because of natural instinct, rather than hunger.

“He ate well, we checked,” Valery Pogasiyenko, who heads Amur region’s hunting department.

Though the official did not specify what a tiger’s nature involves, some media interpreted him as saying it was a desire for sex that drove Kuzya to swim across the 700-ft Amur river in hope of finding a mate on the Chinese side, reports The Moscow Times.

Putin released the 19-month-old Kuzya along with three other tigers in May. Russia alerted China of the cats invasion when the tracking device showed the tiger had crossed the Amur river between Russian and China.

Chineese officials are working to locate Kuzya, who was spotted in Taipinggou nature reserve in northeastern China, according to the reserve director, Chen Zhigang.

Although Pogasiyenko’s believes the cat is not lacking nutrition, China’s Taipinggou nature reserve, have expressed a readiness to “release cattle” to feed the wild cat, if he gets hungry, reports Russian News Agency Tass.

Kuzya will find plenty of food in the 20,000-hectare nature reserve, said Chen Zhigang.

Whether it was Kuzya’s restless nature or appetite that drove him across the river, Chinese authorities are taking all precautions to provide the endangered tiger with plenty of food. No promises on a mate, though.