Russian President Vladimir Putin and a tiger he helped reintroduce to the wild last year have at least one thing in common — an insatiable desire to take over land that isn’t their own.
Making like Putin in Ukraine, “Putin’s tiger” has decided to try and lay claim to territory in China, leading to a major panic among Chinese officials.
On Friday, wildlife officials in China’s far northeast were scrambling to ascertain Kuzya’s whereabouts after his Russian minders, tracking him by radio transmitter, expressed concern that he could end up in the hands of poachers — not an unlikely outcome given the steep price a rare Siberian tiger can fetch on the Chinese black market.
Chinese and Russian officials have been growing closer this year after what they both have perceived as “a challenge” from the West and Chinese officials fear the wrath of Putin if his favorite tiger is poached, according to the paper. The incentive for poachers is quite high. A single tiger carcass is worth about $10,000, the Times reported.
“We will make joint efforts with the Russian side to carry out protection of wild Siberian tigers which travel back and forth between China and Russia,” Hong Lei, a Chinese ministry spokesman, said in a statement.
Maria Vorontsova, director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Russia, told the Times she was following the events closely, but did not believe the tiger was making a political statement.
“Every animal wants a good habitat with enough prey and the possibility to meet a nice female,” she said. “In the meantime, hopefully he won’t get into any trouble.”
