Vyacheslav Rozhnov, the deputy director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, has given a lecture titled, “Study of Rare Animal Species”, as part of the Russian Geographical Society Festival in Moscow.

The scientist spoke about monitoring Amur tigers under a special animal preservation project.

The Rehabilitation and Reintroduction Centre for Tigers and Other Rare Animals in the village of Alekseyevka in Russia’s Primorye Territory, built by the Severtsov Institute and the Tiger Special Inspection, monitors the health of orphaned tiger cubs withdrawn from the wild in early 2013. The animals are kept in the centre before they are released into the wild.

In May 2014, a tiger named Kuzya was released from the reserve into the wild in the Amur Region. The animal travelled the Khabarovsk Territory and the Amur Region on its own, approaching the Russian-Chinese border in October, and then swam across the Amur River to China. 

Currently, the animal’s travels are monitored by Severtsov Institute specialists with the help of a satellite collar. After the tiger settled down in China, articles began to appear in newspapers hinting that the animal might have been involved in destroying farmlands in a Chinese village near the border with Russia. Mr Rozhnov has refuted the information, insisting that the tiger chooses to stay away from populated areas.