'We saw a logging Kamaz [truck] three kilometres away and think the tiger was killed by loggers because they were the only people in the area.' Picture: Yury Zolotarev

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Tourists found the dead tiger cub last week in Khabarovsk region and reported several days later that the rare creature had been shot at close range. Cyclists said the body of the Amur tiger - one of only 500 or so still living in the wild - was still warm when they saw it.

They had no phones to report the incident immediately and left the site fearing the cub's mother could be nearby and attack them.

'The cub must have been learning to hunt and jumped out onto the road. People who saw it must have been taken by surprise and fired shots,' said a man called Yevgeny, cited as a witness, told Kommersant daily.

'The cub must have been learning to hunt and jumped out onto the road. People who saw it must have been taken by surprise and fired shots.' Pictures: Yury Zolotarev, Mikhail Stal

'We saw a logging Kamaz [truck] three kilometres away and think the tiger was killed by loggers because they were the only people in the area. Although, of course, it might have been killed by poachers.'

They returned next day to the scene but could not find the tiger's body: it had disappeared.

President Putin has led a wildlife campaign to save the tiger, and new laws have significantly tightened penalties for killing the animal by poachers and others.

Numbers of the Amur tiger in the wild are now increasing both in Russia and neighbouring China, say experts.