The Siberian tiger that escaped from a tiger park and injured one farmer in the Changbai Mountains in northeast China received a three-hour surgical operation Wednesday night, a park keeper said.

"The operation was successful and the tiger is in stable condition," said park keeper Sun Tiandong Thursday.

Sun said the tiger's body temperature was measured at 38.5 degrees Celsius, a little higher than normal, but the tiger was very healthy judging from other medical indications.

The tiger returned to the park at 3:00 a.m. Tuesday after escaped from the park and stayed at large for more than three days. And it took more than one day before park workers brought the tiger into the cage to be anaesthetized Wednesday night.

The tiger used a pine tree to jump over the park's four-meter-high wire netting fence at about 3:00 pm Saturday and attacked Jiang Fengbo, a farmer who was plucking pine nuts outside the park.

Jiang suffered injuries to his trachea and thigh, and fractures to his cervical vertebra during the attack.

The tiger was later shot and injured after being surrounded in a forest near the park by dozens of policemen.

Established in July 2002 with the approval of the local forestry bureau, the Siberian Tiger Park in the Changbai Mountains is home to 12 adult tigers and four tiger cubs.

The Siberian tiger is among the world's 10 most endangered species, with only about 400 living in the wild in Russia's Far East and China's northeast, a number far less than giant pandas.

(Xinhua News Agency September 25, 2003)