Leading tiger expert mauled by dog-eating tigress

Fomenko - whose life is not in danger - admits he was careless, and encroached into the tigress’s ‘forbidden territory’ during a complex operation to rehabilitate her for a return to the wild. 

The expert, head of the Department for Conservation of Rare Species at the Amur branch of WWF Russia, is one of the leading authorities on the Siberian tiger, a species now in recovery after being on the verge of extinction. 

He is in intensive care recovering from what he laughed off as ‘a kiss of the tigress’ - in fact a large gash on the side of his face.

Fomenko said: ‘The tigress is not to blame. This is typical behaviour of a predator defending its offspring. 

‘I was careless and provoked her. 

‘Unfortunately, it is impossible for me or my colleagues to fully protect ourselves against all surprises. 

The attack came as specialists were vaccinating the wild animals. 

A spokesman said: 'The contact was short. However, Pavel suffered serious injuries. 

'He is still in intensive care. To be honest, this is a rather rare case.' 

The tigress that attacked him has been in the news lately after preying on a remote village and stealing guard dogs to eat and feed her two cubs. 

To save her from being shot by villagers Fomenko spearheaded an operation to capture the beast and put her into rehabilitation. 

After this, her two cubs were caught, and reunited with her, although it now appears she took time to accept them again. 

The tigress evidently saw Fomenko as encroaching on her offspring and attacked him. 

The aim is still to train the tigress to revert to hunt for traditional prey. 

Then she and her two cubs - around 7 months old - will be released into the wild, far from villages with dogs.

'It was just a kiss from the tigress,’ he said. ‘All will be fine, and the cat will be returned home to the wild with her kids.'