In Primorye, where cedar nut and acorn crop fails, intensive feeding of wild animals takes place. The Amur Tiger Center with the support of the regional administration formed a reserve fund of feed of 300 tons. Half of this amount of hunting has already received and started feeding.
This winter more than 30 hunting users who carry out biotechnical activities and regional reserves will receive assistance from the reserve fund. The main goal of such measures is to maintain a high number of ungulates in key habitats of the Amur tiger.
As you know, winter is a serious test for wild animals, and not all of them manage to go through it. And when there is lack of food, the probability of death increases many times over.
“The hunting season for ungulates in Primorye ends on January 15, so now we can safely proceed to intensive feeding, without fear that our assistance will be aimed at facilitating the extraction of animals, but at their salvation. So far, the low level of snow cover allows us to hope that the worst predictions will not come true, but the beginning of spring is still ahead. Of course, the "points" of the feeding must be protected, as it is a tasty place for poachers. Here, first and foremost, a well-coordinated work of the hunting supervision service and the huntsmen’s hunting service is necessary. It is worth noting that assistance is allocated only to those users of hunting resources who regularly hold such events and are tolerant of the presence on the territory of the Amur tiger,” comments the candidate of biological sciences Sergey Aramilev, director of the Primorsky branch of the Amur Tiger Center.
Meanwhile, the forecasts of specialists about the “starving” winter in Primorye began to come true. According to the analysis carried out, including by specialists of the Department of Hunting Surveillance of the Primorsky Krai, this year, due to the poor harvest of cedar and oak, there is a lack of basic fattening feeds that allow animals to store “reserve” fat for the winter. That is why in some areas of the range of the Amur tiger wild animals began to go to agricultural land and settlements.
This winter, the death of a part of the ungulate population, primarily of boars, is predicted. By reducing the number of ungulates, an increase in conflict situations with the tiger is possible. Experts expect that increasing the amount of feeding will help reduce the number of such incidents. If ungulates are fed, a large predator will feed as well.
“In part of the hunting grounds of the Primorsky Krai, the laying out of top dressing to maintain the population of ungulate animals began independently in November. But these measures were clearly not enough, and partly for this reason it was decided to form a reserve fund of concentrated bulk feed. For its part, we announced a fundraising for intensive feeding of ungulates to preserve the Amur tiger, and we are grateful to all our supporters who responded to the call. Believe me, these efforts are not in vain. The pig in the wild boar is not iron, and to punch them in search of food for a dense crust, which was formed now in the forest, it just hurts him. So, fertilizing grounds operating now in Primorye, including thanks to the help of ordinary people from all over Russia, will be appreciated by hungry boars and our striped and spotted friends from the cat family,” says Pavel Fomenko, Honorary Worker of Nature Conservation of the Russian Federation.
Also, for the health of ungulates animals, they vaccinate them. A supplement is added to the top dressing to prevent the outbreak of classical swine fever.
This is a regular preventive measure, since the carrier of this disease is constantly present in boars, it is important to prevent the outbreak of the disease. Some cases have already been recorded in the Ussuri region of Primorsky Krai. This year it is planned to vaccinate about 2 thousand boars.
Recall that in the Primorsky Krai, the Amur Tiger Center with the support of the Primorsky Krai Administration, in 2013 created a reserve fund of feed, which is distributed among the responsible hunting users.