The Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor) has instructed experts on the Hunting Committee at the Khabarovsk Territory Ministry of Natural Resources to capture the tiger that had been seen close to villages in the Nanaisky District. It is necessary to catch the tiger to find out why it strayed into human settlements. 

On 5 January, the tiger attacked a dog near the village of Innokentyevka, and on 14 January, it attacked another dog near the neighbouring village of Slavyanka. Several days later, the tiger was seen in the village of Nizhnyaya Manoma: he wandered into courtyards and dragged away a dog that was chained outside.

“A conflict response team has been on guard since Tuesday to keep the Nizhnyaya Manoma residents safe. We received permission from Rosprirodnadzor to capture the tiger. Experts are already installing traps,” said Yury Kolpak, head of the Wildlife Conservation Department of the Hunting Committee at the Khabarovsk Territory Ministry of Natural Resources.

Sergei Aramilev, general director of the Amur Tiger Centre, said that the tiger will be captured using traps that are safe for the animal, but the process is unpredictable as might take a day or one or two months.

“The animal is very cautious, and it is hard to predict where it will be at a given time,” Aramilev said. He added that if it is a young tiger that is looking for a territory and that has to come close to villages due to a lack of ungulates, it will be fitted with a collar and moved to a new, remote area with a large number of hoofed animals. If the tiger has injuries or health issues, it will be moved to the Utyos Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, whose experts will determine the tiger’s future.