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)