Chinese lawmakers fined for keeping endangered tigers as pets

Three members of the People's Congress in Qingdao, China, have been fined for keeping eight Siberian tigers as pets.

The lawmakers' endangered pets gained national attention when a seven-month-old tiger cub jumped to its death from an 11-story building. The cub had gotten loose from its cage and jumped in fear during a fireworks display for a Lunar New Year celebration.

The men were each fined 3,000 yuan (about $481.75), The South China Morning Post reports. Yang Wenzheng, the cub's owner, apparently kept the cub and another tiger on the roof of a building that he owned.

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According to the Post, Wenzheng and another friend were keeping the tigers for a third friend, Cui Jinguang, who managed a mountain park and couldn't afford to care for all of them. The three men were fined for keeping the animals without a license, and the seven living tigers were seized by the authorities. By WWF estimates, there are only 450 Siberian tigers remaining in the wild.