China: Nine traders arrested as police rescue Siberian tiger cub

ZHENGZHOU, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) — Nine suspects have been arrested as police in central China successfully rescued an endangered Siberian tiger cub, which was being illegally traded.

Forestry police in Sanmenxi City, Henan Province, said Wednesday the four-month-old cub was found and rescued in an abandoned house carved out of a mount…ain on July 16 in the city, where the smugglers were attempting to sell it.

A zoo keeper in east China’s Shandong Province intended to buy the cub for 255,000 yuan (41,409 U.S. dollars), the suspects told police.

Forestry authorities confirmed the 50cm-long cub to be a Siberian tiger.

Police travelled to six provinces to hunt down the…