The Amur Tiger Center continues to compensate local residents for the losses caused by the red-book cat. In six cases in 2021 and 2022, farm animals and fodder were handed over to local residents at a commensurate cost.
One case occurred on 4 October 2021 on the outskirts of the village of Nakhimovka, Spassky District. The owner of the farm discovered the corpse of a goat with traces of scabs and reported it to the Hunting Services.
Experts found that the goat, who was on a free pasture far from the town, actually died from the fangs of the tiger. The collected materials were transferred to the Amur Tiger Center. According to the agreement of the parties, the damage was compensated by new animals.
Two cases occurred in January 2022 in a subsidiary farm near the village of Lazo, Lazovsky district. There the tiger stole from the pen first ram, then bull. Inspectors from the Hunting Control Service found traces of a tiger and fibre, which led to the carcasses of slaughtered animals.
At the request of the owner, the bulls were compensated by new animals with similar characteristics, and the ram - by the amount of the cost of the animal. It was 2,760 kg.
In three other cases, the Amur Tiger Center handed over a total of 12,159 kg of loose feed (oats, barley). In the first case, a tiger ran over a horse in the Kirov district in December 2021, in the second case a horse was killed in the Spassky district in February 2022, and in the third - the victim was also a bull in the Spassky district in March 2022.
All animals transferred under the compensation scheme are acquired only from legal vendors. Animals are healthy, vaccinated and handed over with a full package of veterinary accompanying documents.
When it is not possible to find a replacement for lost animals, the victims are asked to compensate the damage with food commensurate with the amount of damage.
"Often, we note that pet owners who do their business in the tiger’s range do not always take care of their subjects responsibly. They are sent on a free walk in the forest, do not close for the night to fenced places or specialized rooms, etc. It must be understood that such situations can provoke predators to eat easy prey, First Deputy Minister of Forestry and Animal Protection of the Primorsky Krai Alexey Suroviy. – We always encourage the citizens to follow common sense in the habitats of the Amur tiger, and if a situation occurs, which he may be a possible participant, we encourage people to contact the Hunting Surveillance Service as early as possible. Specialists will quickly react and will be able to ensure the safety of both people and tiger, as well as help owners of the affected animals to collect and process the documents necessary to receive further compensation, which is voluntarily carried out by the Amur Tiger Center.
We note that working with the population in the tiger’s range and minimizing the possibility of conflicts between tiger and man is one of the key tasks of the Amur Tiger Center.
As part of the program, since 2015, the Center has compensated citizens for damage caused by the Amur Tiger to their agricultural and domestic animals, regardless of whether the tiger or its victim is responsible for the attack. Compensation is made only in kind, directly by animals or their food, in a amount commensurate with the loss suffered.
The reparations programme has proven to be effective on several occasions, significantly reducing tensions between the population and the tiger, and diminishing citizens' desire to retaliate against the predator for the loss of animals, which was often ended tragically for the tiger.