Tiger Uporny after rehabilitation in the Center "Utes" today released into the tract "Tiger House". The operation to move it with the support of the Amur Tiger Center was conducted by the Committee of Hunting Ministry natural resources of the Khabarovsk Krai.
The tract "Tiger House" is located 200 km from the Rehabilitation Center, on the border with the national park "Anuyskiy". Now this sparsely populated mountain range in the Nanaian region will become home to a three-year-old tiger named Uporny. He will share it with the main inhabitants of this taiga "apartment" - an adult male and a tigress with a tiger cub. Well, and if the old-timers do not immediately accept a novice, he can always take refuge in the national park.
“The peculiarity of this operation for the rehabilitation, relocation and release of a “re-educated” tiger into its natural habitat is that it was organized and controlled at all stages by government agencies responsible for the preservation of this rare beast - the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Khabarovsk Krai. Public organizations were only "in the pipeline" as consultants and operational assistance. And this is right, this is what we have been striving for for many years - so that the state is fully responsible for the conservation of rare species, which is the Amur tiger. And in this case, all services worked “perfectly well”, - commented Pavel Fomenko. “And of course, I am humanly happy for this guy in striped clothing — he was caught in time, stopped in time for "disorderly conduct", was properly kept and eventually presented the most important thing for a wild beast - freedom!”
In November 2014, this weakened starving predator came out to people in the Vyazemsky district. After the attack on the domestic dog, the tiger was quickly captured with the participation of the Khabarovsk Region Ministry of Natural Resources for resolving conflict situations between large predators and humans and scientific experts and was placed in the Wild Animal Rehabilitation Center "Utes". Tiger Uporny became the first lodger of a special enclosure equipped with the help of the Bosch brand of household appliances with video cameras for remote monitoring, which played an important role in the process of rehabilitating the animal.
“This is a wild tiger, fully ready to return to its natural habitat, - said Edward Kruglov, director of the Center for the rehabilitation of wild animals "Utes". - The predator received all the necessary complex of nutrients and a balanced diet. The video surveillance system worked perfectly: visits to the aviary had never been, human contact with the tiger was reduced to a minimum, all the animal's instincts of the wild animal were preserved - it hunts, hides its prey, it fears people.”
The decision on the place and date of issue of the tiger Uporny in nature was adopted by Khabarovsk Krai Government, after consultation with the experts of the Interdepartmental working group for two years operating under Ministry of natural resources of Khabarovsk Krai.
“Our task is not to set up a scientific experiment, but to correctly rehabilitate conflicting individuals, as a result of which tigers return to nature,” says Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Khabarovsk Territory, Chairman of the Committee for Hunting, Alexander Ermolin - The issue of release of the animal was raised at the beginning of the year, but because of the snowy winter and heavy March snowfall, it was decided to postpone the event until the end of May. It was important to take into account all factors: the availability of food resources, the presence of other tigers in the territory, the proximity of settlements. For all these parameters, the Tiger House was recognized as the most appropriate. These are primordial tiger habitats, about which Arsenyev wrote, which are optimal in terms of accessibility, and here we previously had a successful experience in producing a tigress. This winter there were feeding grounds, a wild boar survived well, and our ward will have something to profit from.”
As soon as the cage flap was raised, without even looking at people, the tiger jumped out and disappeared into the bushes. Now the route of its movement through the taiga will be monitored by the hunter’s specialists using a special collar with a GPS module provided by the Amur Tiger Center. Sergey Aramilev, director of the Primorsky branch of the Amur Tiger Center, personally helped to put him on the Tiger.
“For work in the Khabarovsk Krai with conflict tigers, we chose the most modern and lightweight collars that exist in the world,” says Sergey Aramilev. - Equipping a tiger with a collar is not an easy task. It is very important to guess the size so that the beast could not tear it off - and so that it can eat normally. That is why we invited a member of the Academy of Sciences, Alexey Kostyryu, who has extensive practical experience working with large predators. It is important that the collar has an automatic reset mechanism after the power runs out. An animal that has been in the hands of a person remains potentially conflicting. Therefore, the tiger will be under the supervision of people until the end of its life. After the collar is finished working, the Uporny will be monitored with cameras and other methods. In the first month it is very important to understand how the released tiger behaves. Therefore, a special group on the ground will constantly check the locations obtained from the satellite and determine what and how the beast feeds”.