A remarkable tale of determination, hope, and the tiger equivalent of “love” has blossomed in the far-flung reaches of Russia.
After being reintroduced to different parts of the Pri-Amur region, a Siberian tiger named Boris walked over 200 kilometers (124 miles) to reunite with Svetlaya, a female he had been raised alongside in semi-captivity. Within a half year, the pair welcomed a litter of cubs together.
The loved-up duo was part of a successful project to reintroduce Siberian tigers to Pri-Amur, a region near the Russia-China border where the tiger population has been almost completely absent for more than 50 years in Russia.
A new study follows the story of six tiger cubs, including Boris and Svetlaya, who were found as orphans in the forests of the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, known as Russia’s “last stronghold of tigers”.
The cubs were raised in specially designed enclosures to minimize human contact, and when they reached a suitable age, they were introduced to live prey to develop their hunting skills. The aim of the project was to see whether the captive tigers were able to kill prey at a rate sufficient to allow them to survive in the wild.
Once the team was certain the tigers had become proficient hunters, they were fixed with GPS collars and let loose into the wilderness.
Upon their release, the tigers were distributed throughout the region in an attempt to expand their range as much as possible. However, they weren’t anticipating that Boris would make a 200-kilometer (124-mile) journey towards Svetlaya.
Baby Boris: Kolya Rybin, Sasha Rybin, and Dale Miquelle put the tranquilized cub, Boris, into a “potato sack” for transport out of the forest.
Image credit: AWO WCS
The project was a success. The released tigers were able to successfully hunt wild animals in their natural environment, allowing them to survive and even reproduce.
“The data demonstrated that orphaned cubs, raised in captivity and released, were just as good as wild tigers at hunting, targeting the same types of wild prey, and very rarely killing livestock,” lead author Dale Miquelle, from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), said in a statement.
“This success demonstrates that tigers with proper isolation from humans and provided the opportunity to learn to hunt, can be successfully re-released into the wild. But this process requires great caution and attention to details in preparing cubs for this journey.”
The state of the world’s wild tigers is pretty dire – although this new study offers some hope. The WCS estimates there are fewer than 4,500 tigers scattered across 63 remaining landscapes, and they currently exist in just 8 percent of their historic range.
While much of their original habitat has been destroyed for human development, there are potentially over 700,000 square kilometers (270,272 square miles) of free habitat in Asia that’s suitable for tigers.
As this new research demonstrates, it is possible to successfully reintroduce some Siberian tigers into the wild, provided they are expertly raised in a way that preserves their wild spirit.
“This study represents a tantalizing new development in expanding the ‘toolbox’ for conservationists to return tigers to those parts of Asia where they have been lost. The team was scrupulous in preparing young cubs for life in the wild, especially in ensuring they did not habituate to humans. Their careful approach succeeded and paves the way for more reintroduction attempts—not only of tigers, but of other big cats as well,” commented Dr Luke Hunter, Executive Director of the WCS Big Cats Program.
The study is published in the Journal of Wildlife Management.
