The Siberian tiger which attacked a villager in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Firday. Photo: Screenshot from The Beijing News.

The wild tiger, which was captured after it attacked a villager in Northeast China, will be quarantined for 45 days before it is allowed to return to the wild.

Bao Weidong, a professor at Beijing Forestry University, said that part of the inspection on the tiger has been completed. However, there is more information that needs to be collected during the quarantine, and the tiger will be released once the inspection is finished, according to China Central Television (CCTV).

An investigation has been launched into the origin of a wild Siberian tiger that attacked a villager in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, as it is not yet confirmed if the tiger, which has been named "Wanda Mountain No.1" after a local mountain in Heilongjiang, originally came from Russia or China, according to an official from China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

It is also the first time a Siberian tiger has been successfully rescued in the wild in China, media said.

The tiger had been previously spotted in both Russia and China, said Zhang Minghai, director of the Feline Research Center of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, who is also a wildlife protection professor from the Northeast Forestry University, according to the People's Daily on Monday.

The tiger was once found in Russia after crossing the border from China, but was later spotted returning to China, said the report.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, "there are estimated to be 500 to 550 wild Siberian tigers in Russia, accounting for over 90 percent of the total number in the world," said Feng Limin, deputy director of the Siberian tiger and leopard monitoring and research center of Heilongjiang Forestry and Grassland Bureau.

According to media reports, statistics show that there are more than 6,000 artificially bred tigers in domestic animal breeding parks such as the Siberian Tiger Park in Heilongjiang, more than half of which are Siberian tigers.

However, there are estimated less than 30 wild Siberian tigers living in China, even after the conservation efforts made by the Chinese government and some international organizations during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period.

Zhao noted that the core issue is not about where it came from, but is "for Russia and China to jointly build an effective cross-border protection mechanism to protect Siberian tigers and other endangered rare species."

The investigation into the origin of the tiger came after it entered Linhu village in Heilongjiang and attacked a villager who was working in the farmland on Friday.

Luckily, the injured villager was saved from the attack by two people who were driving past the field.

The helpers, Song Xiguo and Bi Yuanxiang, were given a total of 40,000 yuan ($6,153) as a reward for their bravery, according to media reports on Monday.

"I asked her to get in the car right away," said Song to The Beijing News, "It was so scary. We'd never seen such a huge wild tiger before. All I thought about was saving her from the tiger."

Song told reporters that he had just recently bought his car. However, at that moment his thoughts were not about his new car or getting any reward, but to save the woman as quickly as possible.

The tiger was named Wanda Mountain No.1 by the bureau after a local mountain in Heilongjiang.

Wanda Mountain No.1 was taken away from the village by Heilongjiang Forestry and Grassland Bureau and sent to a local rescue and breeding center on Friday, according to People's Daily on Monday.

According to the bureau, Wanda Mountain No.1 is a juvenile male tiger which is estimated to be 2 years old, weighting 225 kilograms, said the report.

Global Times