A Siberian tiger that attacked a farmer in northeast Liaoning Province on Jan. 16 is probably the first Siberian tiger seen in the wild in the province in the past 300 years, the local wildlife protection station announced Thursday. 

The 42-year-old farmer, surnamed Cao, in Xinbin Manchu Autonomous County of Fushun City, was attacked and badly mauled by a tiger as he was going down a hill with three other people.

His wife said a yellow beast jumped onto the path and bit his arm. The others shouted loudly as the beast dragged him for several meters aside and then fled. The attack lasted less than two minutes.

The beast nearly severed the muscles from his left arm, doctors said.

Villagers said they found unfamiliar large animal tracks in the hills before the attack. 

The clear claw trace and white, black and yellow fur left at the scene indicated the beast was probably a Siberian tiger, the man in charge of the station said.

The State Forestry Bureau confirmed his words with a DNA test of its blood on Jan. 20, adding that the beast might have a slight injury.

However, the station also warned the public that the tiger might have escaped from a zoo and they were checking the zoos in the vicinity.

Siberian tigers, the largest of all tigers, live mainly in Siberian Russia and northeast China. It is believed there are some 300 Siberian tigers left in the wild, including less than 10 in China.

Most Siberian tigers in China live in the Lesser Hinggan Mountains in Heilongjiang Province and Changbai Mountain in Jilin Province. The World Wide Fund for Nature has included Siberian tigers in its list of the world's 10 most endangered animals.

(Xinhua News Agency January 29, 2004)