An Amur tigress was spotted standing on a path in the Land of the Leopard National Park in the Primorye Territory. Visitors to the park made a video.

The tigress was spotted on a forest path leading to a Land of the Leopard cordon. The visitors, residents of the Khasansky District, who first met a tiger, were surprised by its calm behavior. She did not leave the path despite the loud music coming from their car.

“The tigress’s reaction to vehicles is quite normal and characteristic not only of tigers but also other animals. Park employees have repeatedly seen dappled deer and even leopards who watched cars but did not run away. The fact is that animals do not perceive cars as living creatures. Possibly, animals have got accustomed to metal around them. There are plenty of metal structures on the park territory, left from the military,” Yelena Salmanova, Land of the Leopard deputy director for science, said. 

The eyewitnesses said that as they became tired of waiting they approached the tigress in the car. When the tigress saw humans through the windshield she roared and left. Park employees found out that several days before, the tigress had been hunting wild boars not far from the place of the encounter.

“Thanks to the effective protection of the national park, animals are not afraid of vehicles. However, the moment they see a living creature in a car they are scared. This is why the tigress did not regard the car as a threat but when she saw a person there she beat a retreat,” Salmanova said.

The visitors to the park behaved correctly when they saw the tigress. For safety considerations, people should not leave the car, while indicating their presence to an animal with loud music, signals or eye contact.

According to the latest count, there are about 30 Amur tigers in the Land of the Leopard.