The Amur Tiger Centre autonomous nonprofit organisation has reached an agreement with Yalta’s Skazka Zoo (Crimea) on research and practice cooperation. The centre’s specialists will provide support to the zoo in raising a new generation of Amur tigers.

Two new Amur tigers were born in the early hours of 17 March in Taigan Safari Lion Park in Belogorsk, part of the Skazka (Fairy Tale) Zoo in Crimea. The park workers named the two-week-old cubs Referendum (a tribute to the event that determined Crimea’s new status) and Vesna (Spring).

The cubs will be examined by specialists from the international Amur tiger conservation programme to see if they are pureblood, because crossbreeding of close varieties cannot be excluded. If their pureblood status is confirmed, they will be eligible to participate in a breeding programme aimed at crossing Amur tigers from various zoos around the world to produce a reserve for increasing the tiger’s population in the wild in the event that it contracts. At present, Taigan Park is home to 28 tigers, which is the largest Amur tiger population in captivity in Russia.