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A Siberian tiger that bit a zookeeper to death is being kept in isolation in Heilongjiang, China's northernmost province, the Siberian Tiger Park announced Monday.
The wildlife park, a popular tourist attraction, made this decision at a plenary staff meeting after receiving suggestions from the public on how to punish the tiger.
The park will open a special outdoor area for the six-year-old tiger.
He will be provided nutritious food and may also be given opportunity to reproduce if he remains in stable condition. A DNA sample proved the tiger to be a purebred Siberian with high-standard genetic diversity.
Zoo workers said they worked hard to raise the tiger and cannotbear to hurt the creature, even as a punishment.
The tiger escaped from his cage and attacked Zheng Wei, an electric gate operator, on Oct.3, puncturing Zheng's jugular artery.
The victim died on the way to hospital.
Zookeepers said that in the future they will draw lessons from the tragedy and work harder in breeding the Siberian tigers, dubbed as national treasures.
The endangered Siberian tigers, who are found in northeast China and the Far East area of Russia, are under first-level stateprotection in China.
(Xinhua News Agency October 29, 2002)
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