Workers of the zoo where 13 Siberian tigers died over the last three months in northeast China's Liaoning Province, finally got paid after an 18-month delay, said zoo workers.

A total of 13 Siberian tigers have died over a span of three months in Shenyang Forest Wild Animal Zoo including 11 which died of malnutrition and another two were shot dead while mauling a zoo worker in November 2009, said Liu Xiaoqiang, vice chief of the Shenyang Wild Animal Protection Station.

The news of the dead tigers was broken by zoo workers who stopped working last Wednesday to demand their salary after 18 months of not being paid.

"A total of 11 tigers were starved to death. We haven't been paid for 18 months and we are starving too," said a zoo worker.

The shocking news about the zoo has drawn worldwide attention. The workers were paid on Sunday by the management committee of Shenyang City's Qipanshan Development Zone where the zoo is sited.

The workers have returned to work. "We worked through the night to clean up the snow," said a worker Monday after Liaoning Province received another large dump of snow.