Photo: Screenshot of CCTV News

The footprints found in a soybean field in Mishan, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province were confirmed to belong to wild Siberian tigers, according to media reports on Monday.

The footprints were found by Mishan border police officers when they were patrolling the border near the Bianjiang village.

Mishan is a city located in the southeast of Heilongjiang Province. The meadows, marshes, lakes and forests inside the city constitute a complete and various wetland ecosystem with rich species diversity, containing almost all the important species in the Sanjiang Plain.

Professionals from Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Mishan arrived at the scene after local border police station reported the discovery. After measuring and photographing the footprints and strides, they determined that the palm length of the footprints was about 18 centimeters, the palm width was about 13 centimeters, and the palm pad length was about 10 centimeters.

Experts from the Heilongjiang Wildlife Research Institute preliminarily confirmed that the tracks were made by adult wild Siberian tigers.

The local authorities issued a notice urging the surrounding villagers to be on high alert, and to have reliable protection facilities for outdoor operations to ensure that they will not be harmed by tigers.

In recent years, the ecological protection of Mishan has been continuously strengthened, and remarkable achievements have been made in such work as returning farmland to wetland and forest, and wildlife protection.

Observers believe that the rediscovery of the footprints of wild Siberian tigers in Mishan indicates that the local ecological protection and species recovery have achieved remarkable results.

The city and township public security authorities have arranged officers to track down the tiger, and strive to investigate the traces of the Siberian tiger in the shortest time to ensure the safety of people's lives and property.