Residents of Russia's Far East have found the dead body of an endangered Amur tiger thought to have drowned after falling through the ice of a frozen river in the Primorye region.
The Amur Tiger Center said on Monday that the animal's corpse is being examined to determine the exact cause of death, Interfax reported.
Fishermen and workers at the Lazovsky district reserve where the tiger was found said that the cat had left behind little evidence on the frozen river surface and that it likely broke through a thin layer of ice back in November.
However it is also possible the tiger went on to the ice because it had been wounded, said the head of the Primorye region Amur Tiger Center Sergei Aramilev, citing the example of a previous tiger's death.
Poaching is thought to be the greatest threat to survival for the Amur tiger, of which only about 450 now live in the wild. Amur tigers can still be found in Russia's Far Eastern Primorye and Khabarovsk regions.
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