Tigers have gone on a rampage in Russia killing people and eating dogs after Vladimir Putin has saved the species from extinction.

Giant Amur tigers - considered the world's largest cats - are thought to be behind a series of attacks over the last year, which saw two people get killed by the beasts and several more injured.

In December, Viktor S was viciously mauled and killed in the Khabarovsk region in eastern Russia while he was looking for 'the place where his dog was killed', likely by the same animal.

Local fisherman Sergey Kyalundzyuga, 19, was seriously injured last year after a wild tiger jumped through his window and attacked him. He survived after the big cat was shot dead by his cousin.

This comes after Putin supported the rehabilitation of Amur tigers in their natural habitat in the east of the country.

Now numbers of the endangered species have rapidly risen to over 750 in the wild - and they are proving a threat to villagers.

One man's remains were found near the Khabarovsk region after he was reported missing. Investigators said there were clear traces that he was attacked and devoured by a tiger.

Also last year, Darya Ulyanova, 26, suffered 'severe lacerations' to her shoulder and both arms when a tiger attacked her as she reportedly 'went to the toilet in the bushes' on a holiday trip. Her husband used his truck to ram it, saving her life.

Shocking videos show a spate of attacks on guard dogs by prowling Amur tigers.

In one case, a tiger killed a trained guard dog at a Russian border post with China in the Khabarovsk region.

Just this weekend a tiger killed a guard dog in the village of Kutuzovka, south of Khabarovsk city, then another was eaten, likely by the same big cat in the Srednekhorskii village, some 25 miles away.

In the neighboring Primorsky region, a house guard dog was savaged in Kuguki, north of Vladivostok.

Earlier this month a heavyweight 60kg guard dog was killed in the Anuchinsky district of Primorsky region - likely by a tiger of the Amur species, where the males can weigh up to 190kg.

Last month there were tiger attacks on dogs in at least three villages.

One theory for the killings is that the natural habitat of the tigers is being destroyed by man, meaning the beasts cannot find their usual prey.

Poaching remains a threat to the tigers and almost drove them to extinction in the wild in Soviet times.