Vladik the tiger, who was released in Bikin National Park in May 2017 after rehabilitation, crossed the entire Primorye Territory in search of a permanent home and returned to the southwest of the territory. Specialists tracked the predator with the help of a GPS collar put on Vladik before his release, regularly verifying points of his travel across the territory.

Researchers note that Vladik looks like a healthy and well-fed animal and shows a normal reaction to cars and people, without getting into conflict with them. Also, the tiger has never attacked domestic animals. “He made us worried once, when he approached the village of Yasnoye near the airport. But the tiger made the right choice and this time found the right way, bypassing Vladivostok. Experts even managed to see Vladik, finding the tiger by a radio signal from his collar. Then he crossed an intractable barrier of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Vladivostok-Khabarovsk motorway and found himself in the southwest, thereby confirming the link between the two tiger habitats in Sikhote-Alin and southwestern Primorye, proven in the middle of the 20^th century,” said Sergei Aramilev, general director of the Amur Tiger Centre.

According to the experts, the appearance of the tiger near Vladivostok in October 2016 indicates that the predator fell hostage to the circumstances and transport infrastructure. Vladik’s story allows researchers to obtain unique information about the behavioural characteristics of Amur tigers.