Male Siberian tiger donated by China dies

A male Siberian tiger that had been raised at the Forest Zoo of the Korean National Arboretum in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, died Friday at the age of 21.

Named “Baekdu,” the feline was donated by former Chinese President Jiang Zemin and was the oldest Siberian tiger bred in Korea. As the life expectancy of a tiger is 15 to 20 years, Baekdu died at an age equivalent to 80 human years.

The tiger from February showed symptoms of aging such as loss of appetite and difficulty walking.

The arboretum judged that the tiger died from age-induced major organ malfunction and sent it to the College of Veterinary Medicine at Seoul National University for an autopsy.

As a sign of friendship between Beijing and Seoul, Jiang gave Baekdu and a female tiger “Cheonji” to then Korean President Kim Young-sam, who visited Beijing in 1994. Cheonji died in May last year.

Korea tried for 10 years to have the two tigers breed. Baekdu was given Viagra and shown a video of tigers mating but failed to produce offspring.

Baekdu will be stuffed and housed at the Forest Life Specimen Hall.

Korea has about 50 Siberian tigers. Certain zoos have succeeded in breeding them, but the Korea Forest Service is making its own efforts to that end.

The arboretum brought a pair of Siberian tigers from China in 2005, but only one, a 10-year-old male tiger named Duman, has survived.