Game managers in the Amur Region have found traces of a large male adult Amur tiger at the Khingano-Arkharinsky Wildlife Refuge. There were plans to use the refuge as one of the sites for the reintroduction of the region's rare predators, Deputy Director for Science of the Khingansky Reserve Vyacheslav Kastrikin reported.

Last year, a decision was taken to reintroduce the Amur tiger, which is listed in the Red Data Book, to the Amur Region. Two Amur tigers, at the least, can be delivered to the region from the Rehabilitation and Reintroduction Centre for Tigers and Other Rare Animals. The centre was built in the Primorye Territory by the Tiger Special Inspection and the Russian Academy of Sciences' Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution with the support of the Russian Geographical Society. Historically, Amur tigers inhabited the region's Arkharinsky District. The animals had to flee the district due to uncontrolled hunting and intensive infrastructure development.

"Traces of a large male adult Amur tiger have been found at Khingano-Arkharinsky Wildlife Refuge. Judging by the footprints and the direction of the tracks, the animal came from the Jewish Autonomous Region. A female adult tiger was the last Amur tiger seen in the reserve three years ago. There are plans to use the wildlife refuge as one of the sites for the reintroduction of Amur tigers in the region. The tiger's appearance there proved that we were right when selecting the area," Vyacheslav Kastrikin said.

He added that the tiger might stay in the Amur River region for a while, as there is plenty of wildlife to feed on there. "There are a significant number of boar and other animals in the refuge," Mr Kastrikin noted. "I don't think there is any reason for the tiger to leave now."