The Amur tiger named Uporny has settled in Anyuisky National Park six weeks after being released into the wild. His movements are being tracked through a GPS collar.

“Researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences provided scientific support during the tiger’s release into the wild and will continue to monitor his movement. So far, everything is going as expected. The GPS collar is emitting a stable signal, giving us information about the tiger’s health and whereabouts,” said Alexei Kostyrya, a senior researcher at the Institute of Biology and Soil Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Far Eastern Branch.

Uporny strayed into a village in the Vyazemsky District of the Khabarovsk Territory last November. He attacked a dog and was later caught and taken to the Utyos Centre for rehabilitation. He was released into the wild on 28 May.

“We are satisfied with Uporny’s behaviour. He keeps away from humans and mostly moves in difficult to access areas, avoiding any anthropogenic infrastructure. Since his release, he has never used man-made roads, not even the abandoned ones previously used to transport timber,” said Sergei Aramilev, director of the Primorye branch of the Amur Tiger Centre. “On the other hand, this has made the work of a special group that is monitoring his movements much more difficult. They sometimes have to cover up to 20 kilometres across difficult terrain to get to a registered location to see what the tiger did there.”