A representative of the department on the protection and regulation of fauna of the Jewish Autonomous Region (JAR) Government said that the region's game managers hope to restore the Red Book Amur tiger population in the region by resettling an orphaned tigress from Primorye to join the local lone tiger.

The small tigress was five or sixth months old when she was found by hunters last February near the village of Borisovka in the Ussuriysk District. The tiger cub was completely exhausted and was sent for treatment and rehabilitation to a special centre where she was named Cinderella.

"A male tiger has lived on the territory of the JAR for many years. But there is no female tiger, and hence there is no tiger population. The orphaned tigress from Primorye may be moved here. If they reproduce, the tiger population will be restored," the representative said.

He said the regional department of the Federal Hunting Authority is considering the possibility of resettling the tigress to the JAR. She is still at the Primorye rehabilitation centre for predators. The idea was supported both by local environmentalists and their colleagues from the Moscow Severtsev Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

"This possibility is currently being reviewed by experts of the Rosprirodnadzor environmental watchdog. If they endorse this decision the tigress may be released here as soon as April. We think this is an interesting idea. In fact, it may even restore the tiger population. The reproductive instinct may compel our tiger to leave this territory in two or three years," the department's representative said. He added that game managers have apprehensions about the tigress, who has grown up in captivity. They are worried it may approach villages and hunt dogs.

"We have been promised that if problems arise, trained specialists will arrive and help us catch the tigress. We still hope that everything will be okay, and that we won't have to take such measures, the representative said.