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"Putin's tiger" suspected in deaths of Chinese goats

The tiger is equipped with a tracking monitor.

By Ed Adamczyk
Russian President Vladimir Putin uses a tranquilizer gun to subdue wildlife in this 2008 photo (CC/ Russian Prime Minister's Office)
Russian President Vladimir Putin uses a tranquilizer gun to subdue wildlife in this 2008 photo (CC/ Russian Prime Minister's Office)

JIAMUSI , China, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- A Siberian tiger, released into the wild two years ago by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is suspected in the deaths of two goats on a farm in northeastern China.

Footprints and other evidence, found near a goat house on Heixiazi Island in China's Heilongjiang province, point to Ustin, one of three monitor-equipped tiger cubs, said wildlife expert Zhu Shibing of China's Northeast Forestry University.

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"Our monitoring data and this attack all tell that Ustin is in good physical condition, and has a large range of activities on Heixiazi Island," Zhu said.

Ustin was among five Amur tiger cubs found starving; he was rehabilitated and released back into the wild, part of a wildlife conservation plan Russia began in 2010. In a publicity opportunity, Putin himself led opening of the cages to release the tigers. As he matured, Ustin made his way from Russia to China. At the farm in China, two goats were found dead with puncture holes in their skulls, and three remain missing, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday.

In October, another of the tigers in the project, a female named Kuzya, was suspected of a raid on a hen house in which five chickens were killed, in the same Chinese province.

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