Seeing a Siberian tiger at the back of your home

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‍For 64-year-old Yang Yongsheng, July 19th, 2016 will be a day he'll never forget.

Yang encountered a wild Siberian tiger by a riverside 15 meters north from his home,

“It was 7pm. I walked to the river to clean my feet,” said Yang. “All of a sudden, I saw a tiger standing in front of me, just three yards away”.

According to Yang, he calmly headed back to his house the moment he saw the tiger. At the halfway mark, he looked back, and fortunately saw the big cat turning around and making its way back to the woods.

“To be frank, I didn’t think much if I was scared or not," said Yang. "I just took my smart phone and took a picture as evidence.”

Yang walked to the river to clean his feet.

Yang saw a tiger standing in front of him.

Yang headed back to his house.

Yang looked back at the tiger in the half way that he found the tiger has back to the woods.

Yang took his smart phone and took a picture of the tiger.

Yang is a local resident of Nangou Village at Huncun city, a remote village in northeast China’s Jilin province which borders with Russia. He and his wife are the only residents who live in southern part of the village.

According to Yang, these big cats first appeared on July 16th — three days before he saw the tiger. That very night, one of his watchdogs went missing.

Early next morning, he found nothing except a broken dog leash and bits of fur.

Yang and his dog./ CGTN Photo

On July 17 and July 18, he lost two more watchdogs.

“I’ve never heard my dog bark so loud,” said Yang. “There must be something, I’m sure.”

After encountering the tiger, Yang went to inform the local government. An official arrived at the scene an hour later to light firecrackers to keep the tiger away.

“Ten years ago, I seldom heard people talking about tigers, not to even mention seeing one in person,” said Yang Jun, from the Hunchun Forestry Bureau’s wildlife protection department.

CCTV monitor at Yang's home./ CGTN Photo

According to the Hunchun Forestry Bureau, frequent reports of tiger sightings were reported in recent years, but they were cases of dead cattle, and not tiger sightings.

In 2016, there were 707 cases of injuries and economic losses caused by wildlife, 118 of which was done by tigers.

“The environment improved, I guess that’s the reason behind tigers’ return.” Yang added.

China has banned all commercial logging since 2015, and lumberjacks were hired as forest rangers in a bid to conserve wildlife.

Now, in Jilin Province, some 43.9 percent of land area is made up of forests, covering over eight million hectares.

A year after the tiger attacked his dogs, things seem unchanged. Yang still lives in his house, but this time, with his four new dogs that the government gave.

“With new watchdogs, alarms as well as CCTV cameras, I feel safer.” he said.

564km