Amur tiger Ustin has become the second of five wild cats released into the Siberian wilds earlier this year to defect to China.
The tigers, released during a visit by Russian president Vladimir Putin to the Jewish Autonomous Region in the country's far east, have become known as 'Putin's Tigers,' and one by one they're risking it all to escape Russia and begin new lives across the border.
On the southern banks of the Amur, Utsin joins tiger cub Kuzya, who plied the river's rapids just last month in a bid to start anew in China.
Another of 'Putin's Tigers,' Llyona, also made a dash for the People's Republic but was intercepted before touching down on PRC soil.
Kuzya was accused last month by Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency of going on a killing spree in Heilongjiang, attacking a coup of hens and devouring five of the birds.
The Siberian Times reports, however, that Kuzya had been falsely accused and that his name has now been cleared of the offense. Experts tracking the big cat maintain that he has only killed wild boars deep in the forests.
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