An adult male Amur tiger has been caught near the village of Yasenevy in the Primorye Territory. During the operation, experts of the Primorye and Khabarovsk Hunting Supervision Department described the tiger’s behaviour as unusual and sent him to the Utyos Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre for further examination.

“For some reason, the tiger is not afraid of humans. Perhaps he is sick, but we do not see any external signs of illness. We will monitor his condition and carry out a full examination when we receive the test results,” said Sergei Aramilev, general director of the Amur Tiger Centre.

Experts learned about the tiger from tourists, who were the first to spot him on the bank of the Bikin River. The wild cat was also seen at the river spit by locals. According to them, the predator lay on the bank of the river and sometimes went into the forest.

“When we spoke with locals, we found out that the tiger had been there for several days. He showed no sign of aggression, but also did not avoid people. This is not normal behaviour for a predator, so we decided to capture the tiger,” said Yuri Kolpak, head of the Department for Wildlife Preservation of the Hunting Committee at the Khabarovsk Territory Ministry of Natural Resources.

Experts do not rule out that a serious illness could be the reason for the tiger’s unusual behaviour.

“There is a large number of natural foci of infection or other diseases in the Far East, including neurotropic ones that can alter animals’ behaviour and pose danger for Amur tigers. The problem is not studied well enough and must be resolved comprehensively. Research is ongoing; the biological material we received is very valuable and will serve as another element in our study of natural infection foci,” said Mikhail Shchelkanov, head of the virus laboratory of the Federal Biodiversity Research Centre at the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.