Conflict Mitigation is a major conservation priority for wild Amur tigers. We are proud to be one of the supporting organisations that work with ‘PRNCO Tiger Center’ in the Russian Far East. Your donations meant we were able to provide funds to convert a KAMAZ truck into an emergency veterinary ambulance and also to provide a mobile X-Ray machine. More than 10 wild tigers have been successfully rehabilitated and returned to the wild, and careful monitoring lets us glimpse into their lives.
Here are the latest notes from the field from Ekaterina Blidchenko at PRNCO, with updates on recently released tigers Saikhan & Lazovka, and some of the first residents of the rehab centre, Filipa and Boris & Svetlaya. Field notes have not been edited.
MONITORING REHAB TIGERS IN RUSSIA
“News from the fields, July 2018!
As always, we look forward to hearing from our graduates, as the work on monitoring in the Jewish region continues despite the strong heat and a powerful flood!
Every year, there are more monitoring points, this is due to the number of tigers released. We manage to observe the restoration of tiger numbers in the territory where it was almost absent for a long time.
Our old-timers of the “Juravlinij” reserve Tigress Svetlaya and tiger Borya remain on their territory and visit the familiar marking trees. Their young offspring have already dispersed from the parental site, but one of the cubs has chosen an adjacent territory with his mother and father, and all three visits the same marking tree!
For the first time, it was possible to visit the “apartment” of the tigress Filippa. She has so hard-to-reach housing that you just can not go through and do not go through. Its site is located along the steep bank of the Amur River, near the border of our country, a place rich in steep rock massifs and marshy swamps. The edge of its site adjoins the site of the tiger Borya. So we will closely monitor the development of tiger relations. For the first time at her house were installed photo traps and found marking trees.
Tiger Saikhan and Lazovka are alive and well but have not been reunited yet. Each of them hunts, this fact was certified by field inspection. Their production is very diverse: boars of different ages (from young to adults), roe deer and wolf. Based on the data obtained, we can say that the tigers successfully adapt to the wildlife conditions! The distance between them is within 60 km, which is two days for the Tigers. Knowing tiger stories, we do not lose hope for their meeting. While it is difficult to say whether they have permanent territories or not, these temporary sites come into contact with the parts of tigers of Borya and Svetlaya, thus forming a stable, not fragmented group of tigers in the Jewish Autonomous Region.”
ABOUT WILDCATS
WildCats is proud to support grassroots conservation work that makes such a significant impact on wildlife. We would like to do all we can to provide organisations like PRNCO with all they need to continue their brilliant work. 100% of your donations will benefit work like this directly, whether you give monthly, or opt for our Amur supporter pack. Wild tigers need you.
ABOUT PRNCO
The PRNCO Tiger Centre has been operating in the Russian Far East providing assistance to the Department of Hunting Supervision, resolving conflicts between predators and humans for over 6 years. PRNCO provide immediate veterinary care to tigers who have had to be withdrawn from the wild and provides ongoing rehabilitation care. Since launch, they have returned 10 conflict tigers to the wild and rehabilitated numerous other species.
