A runaway adult Siberian tiger wandered on an expressway for about four hours before finally being caught Tuesday morning outside Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province.

The 18-year old male tiger, named Huishan King, accompanied by other three tigers, was on the way back to a tiger zoo in Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province, after a performance in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province, on Monday, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

The truck driver found that the big cat was trying to break the cage after two hours of driving, around 100 kilometers from Changchun. Its head and one leg had broken through. The driver managed to contact the local traffic police, which dispatched a team to guard the truck at around 10:30 pm.

About 20 minutes later, the tiger finally escaped from the cage and jumped from the truck. But luckily enough, it only roamed along the highway and its companions did not follow him, remaining in the cage.

About 100 policemen from local police offices and forestry departments immediately closed in from two ends of the expressway and shut down the road in case passing vehicles might anger him.

In the meantime, a vet from a local zoo was called upon to deal with the dangerous animal.

"He is really a big boy," said Liang Hongguo, the veteran vet. Its weight was around 200 kilograms, which was rather rare, Liang said.

Only 2 meters from the tiger, Liang used a steel blow dart from a squad car to hit and paralyze the tiger.

The narcotic worked and 15 minutes later, the tiger fell unconscious. It was then sent to a local zoo to receive further treatment. Doctors said the tiger was only slightly wounded when jumping from the truck.

(China Daily December 10, 2003)