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Putin's tiger Kuzya returns to Russia from China

The tiger's GPS tracker shows that Kuzya is currently roaming the Russian taiga after spending two months in China, an employee of China's wildlife conservation department told Xinhua agency

BEIJING, December 10. /TASS/. Kuzya, one of the three tigers released into the wild by President Vladimir Putin, has returned to Russia after spending two months in China, the Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.

The tiger's GPS tracker shows that Kuzya is currently roaming the Russian taiga, an employee of China's wildlife conservation department told Xinhua.

Zhang Minghai, a deputy chief of the Feline Research Center at China's State Forestry Administration, said that the big cat could return to China again as he had marked the places he visited with his urine.

China has a sound forest ecosystem and plenty of food, Zhang said adding that Kuzya had not attacked domestic animals during his stay in northeast China.

The tiger was first spotted in Taipinggou nature reserve in northeastern China in early October.

Kuzya is one of the five tiger cubs found in the Far-Eastern taiga some two years ago and taken to a special rehabilitation center.

Kuzya and two other tigers were released into the wild by President Putin in May. The two others were set free in June.

The Siberian tiger, also known as Amur tiger, is on the Red List of Threatened Species. In 2010, Russia launched a national strategy to protect the Siberian tiger, the largest of the five tiger species. According to World Wildlife Fund, some 450 Siberian tigers are left on the planet.