'Rare' tiger exposed as circus fugitive

CHANGSHA: The big cat first captured on film by a TV station worker in a forest of Hunan province was identified yesterday as a Siberian tiger that had escaped from a circus.

The animal was initially thought to be a rare South China tiger.

A photographer with the Pingjiang county TV station told the local forestry bureau "he had unintentionally captured a big animal on film" last Wednesday and asked for help identifying it.