Liu Guifu, 74, never imagined that one day he would come face to face with a Siberian tiger in his own yard in late November.

A surveillance video captured Liu's encounter with the tiger, when the big cat dashed past his village house in Boli county, Heilongjiang province. After stepping out of his yard for a quick look, Liu retreated to the yard and pulled the gate shut. The tiger, however, turned back and lunged at him, denting the iron gate before it left.

"I thought that by closing the gate, the tiger would be kept out," Liu told Xinhua, recalling the incident. "When the tiger charged at me, I was so scared!"

The video has gone viral online, with netizens expressing concern about such incidents.

It was the first recorded sighting of a Siberian tiger in Boli county's history. The county is outside the key distribution ranges of Siberian tigers, according to the Heilongjiang Forestry and Grassland Administration.

Over 500 personnel from relevant county government departments have been mobilized for deployment and control of the tiger, working around the clock to carry out investigations and track the animal.

The management bureau of the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, about 200 kilometers from the village, announced soon after the incident that it had activated an emergency response plan and insurance claims procedure.

The national park has coordinated with the insurance company to send a working group to the village to assist the local forestry and grassland department in conducting investigations. If the animal is confirmed to be a wild Siberian tiger, the insurance claims process will be immediately initiated.

Thanks to China's continuous efforts, the population of the Siberian tiger, one of the world's most endangered species, has grown significantly in recent years, while their range of activity has also expanded.

In 1998, only 12 to 16 wild Siberian tigers were believed to be living in China. The NCTLNP, established in 2021 and spanning Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces, now provides a sanctuary for around 70 wild Siberian tigers.

"With an improved ecological environment, the number of wild tigers is increasing, which shows that we have achieved good results in protecting wild animals," said Hu Huijian, a council member of the China Zoology Society.

In recent years, with the implementation of projects such as natural forest protection, wild animal and plant protection, and the construction of a national park-based nature reserve system, the quality of wildlife habitats has continued to improve, with continued growth in the populations and range of activities of wild animals.

China has been prioritizing eco-environmental progress and pursuing green development for biodiversity conservation. In 2021, China established its first group of national parks, protecting 90 percent of terrestrial ecosystem types and 74 percent of key terrestrial wild animal and plant species. The land area of the country's nature reserves accounts for nearly 18 percent of the total land area.

China has been making efforts to reach harmony between humans and nature.

Experts suggest increasing investment in scientific research to enhance ecological corridors for the reproduction and spread of large wild animals, and to strengthen habitat protection for wild animals, especially endangered ones.

"Connecting the fragmented habitats is the fundamental way to solve the problem. The construction of ecological corridors for Siberian tigers and Amur leopards along the China-Russia border should be accelerated, and a cross-border nature reserve network should be built," said Jin Yongchao, a member of the wild tiger conservation expert team of the World Wildlife Fund.

Jin said strengthened local patrols and use of technical devices such as infrared cameras should be combined to dynamically track and monitor the activity range of wild Siberian tigers to avoid tigers and humans overlapping.

The NCTLNP has set up over 20,000 smart infrared cameras. These cameras connect to the internet to transmit high-definition images and videos in real-time. It also uses artificial intelligence technology for species recognition, monitoring the activities of Siberian tigers and other large animals.

Many places in China have also explored strategies to prevent and control damage by wild animals. Northwest China's Shaanxi province has started to build isolation and protection facilities, such as pulse electric fences and vegetation isolation belts, to control damage by wild boars. Nearly 400 infrared cameras have also been set up in the hills and mountains in Jiangsu province to monitor wild boars.