13
Mar 2008 - By Yulia Fomenko* - The starving
little tiger cub took advantage of owners’
absence to kill a dog and eat him before
seeking shelter in his box. That’s where
members of the Tiger Inspectorate found
the cub, not far from Vyazemskoye settlement
of Khabarovsky Province, last January. They
named her Angara.
A second tiger cub,
probably from the same litter, was not so
lucky. A truck driver found him in critical
condition on the road side, 14 km off Vyazemskoye
village, but the little animal was exhausted
and died in spite of all the efforts taken
by the veterinarians.
Meanwhile, Angara was
staying safe and warm at the temporary base
for rescued wild animals in Razdolnaya,
under the supervision of Tiger Inspectorate
specialists and veterinarians.
Questions were raised
about the future of Angara. Should she be
raised at the Utes rehabilitation centre
in Khabarovskii Province and then be released
into the wild? A similar experiment with
two young tigresses was done in 2001. But
they were killed by poachers.
“Over the last 2 years,
11 tiger cubs were taken from the wild and
none of them had been brought back to the
taiga, said Yury Darman, head of WWF-Russia
Armur branch. The 5 cubs who survived were
moved to the zoos.”
“Now we hope that with
the age of the cub and her experience, she
could survive in taiga - with our help of
course. We want to catch this opportunity
to bring at least one cub back into the
wild.”
The Tiger Inspectorate,
the Department for nature resources control
of the Far Eastern Federal Okrug, the commission
on rare species of the Russian Academy of
Science and public organizations such as
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), International
Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and Utes
rehabilitation centre supported the project.
“We hope that in August-September,
after rehabilitation course in Utes centre,
Angara could be released into the wild with
a radio collar”, said Yury Darman.
“We’ve done everything
to prepare the cub for further rehabilitation,
but we are seriously concerned about her
future”, said Vitaly Starostin, deputy head
of the Tiger Inspectorate.
As only the militia
has the power to control natural resources
use there is no proper registration of poaching
cases.
But the number of injured
and killed tigers is a strong indicator
of the growth of tiger poaching: five cases
of injured and killed tigers have been registered
since the beginning of this year. It is
believed the toll might be five times higher.
“Our last hope to change
the situation in nature protection, and
therefore the situation of the cub, is the
creation of the Russian Committee on Ecology,
with full rights and liabilities”, said
Vitaly Starostin.
Edward Kruglov, director
of Utes rehabilitation centre, and Vasilii
Solkin, director of Zov Taigi nature conservation
centre came to take Angara at the end of
February.
“The whole team was
seriously concerned about the cub reaction
after a 16 hours trip, said Vasilii Solkin.
When we arrived, we placed the tigress in
a closed cage. And we were relieved the
morning after to see she had eaten the meat
we gave her.”
Angara is now living
in a large enclosure, located far from human
eyes, to minimize contacts with humans is
one of the main conditions of rehabilitation.
“She has to learn at
least two important things once she is released
into the wild, said Vasilii Solkin. First:
to stay away from humans and try to be out
of sight at a remote distance. Second: to
learn hunting by herself.”
Normally, the mother
trains the cubs to do this during their
first year. Now, Edward Kruglov will replace
the mother.
“We need to get a license
for the cub maintenance, which means collecting
several documents and sending them to Moscow,
said Edward Kruglov. Then, we need to train
Angara’s hunting skills, and to save her
natural instinct to recognize the taste
and smell of the game.”
“We already implemented
this methodology and can manage it. We are
also concerned about her release: the place
is to be determined in advance and should
be a protected area.”
Environmentalists from Zov taigi centre
will observe the development and future
condition of the cub.
Follow up the news on http://www.wwf.ru/eng
Yulia Fomenko is Head of Communications
at WWF-Russia, Armur Branch
