VLADIVOSTOK — An environmentalist said Wednesday that a rare Siberian tiger fitted with a radio-tracking collar by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has vanished.

Vladimir Krever, of the World Wildlife Fund, said the satellite-tracking device has been silent since mid-September, possibly because of battery failure, a broken collar or poachers.

Putin shot the 5-year-old female tiger with a tranquilizer gun last year and helped place the transmitter around her neck. Visitors to his web site have been able to follow the animal as it prowled the Far East.

(AP)