The numerous incidents of orphaned tiger cubs in the Amur tiger's natural habitat in Russia means they have to be temporarily withdrawn from the wild, moved to the Rehabilitation Centre and returned back to their natural habitats at a later date. The tiger cub orphans are usually no more than six or seven months old, an age where they need a lot of food and are not yet capable of hunting large animals on their own.

The main problem with rehabilitating large carnivores and then releasing them back into the wild is getting animals that have been raised in captivity to adapt to the wild: they need to avoid contact with humans, not attack livestock, and feed on wild ungulates and other natural foods: they need to develop normal species-specific behaviour.

The success of reintroducing the animals into the wild can be measured by the following parameters: avoiding conflicts with humans and domestic livestock, successfully getting through their first winter and breeding.

Two releases of tiger cubs who underwent rehabilitation at the base of the wildlife complex in the village of Gaivoron (Primorye Territory) in 2009 and 2010 indicate that the animals are successfully adapting to their surroundings, hunting and avoiding humans.

V. Rozhnov (1), V Yudin (2), V. Lukarevsky (1), S. Naidenko (1), J. Hernandez-Blanco (1), M. Litvin (3), A. Kotlyar (3), V. Gaponov (4)

1. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

2. Institute of Biology and Soil Sciences, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok

3. Ussuri State Nature Reserve, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ussuriisk

4. "Tiger" Special Inspection, Vladivostok