The tiger cub called Rosomakha (Wolverine) has moved from a quarantine unit to a spacious enclosure at the rehabilitation centre in the Primorye Territory, where he has been staying since being saved by hunting supervision service employees.

The six-month-old cub was injured by an adult tiger. Specialists of a group that resolves conflicts between humans and large predators took him from the wild in the north of the Primorye Territory in November 2020. Vets and trauma surgeons from Vladivostok Clinic No. 2 performed two surgeries to mend the bones in the tiger’s injured limb. They prevented the leg’s amputation and managed to restore its motor function, a feat accomplished for the first time ever on a wild Amur tiger.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves because the development of the tiger’s injured limb is crucial. It must grow at the same rate and to the same size as the healthy one. If it remains a bit shorter, the tiger’s gait will be affected, but this is not critical. It won’t impede the tiger because what’s most important is the speed that a tiger needs to catch its prey. A video of Wolverine exploring his new territory shows that he can already run fairly quickly. We are hoping the tiger will continue to make progress, but it won’t be a tragedy if he doesn’t.  The fact that he survived is a real miracle,” said Sergei Aramilev, general director of the AmurTiger Centre.

According to Viktor Kuzmenko, director of the Centre for the Rehabilitation and Reintroduction of Tigers and Other Rare Animals (PRNCO “Tiger Center”), on 25 January Rosomakha celebrated “moving house”: he relocated from a quarantine unit where he was recovering after the surgeries on its leg to a large enclosure at the rehab centre.

“The tiger’s leg recovery is going to plan, and the callus has already fully formed. Rosomakha has full use of his limb. Of course, the tiger is hobbling a bit, but that is only natural after such surgeries. He will walk properly with time. To do so, the tiger must be more active, use his leg more and strengthen it. Now he will have the conditions for this. We plan to give him hunting training according to our methods,” Kuzmenko said.

Three Amur tigers are undergoing rehabilitation in the Primorye and Khabarovsk territories: the tigress Sanda and the tiger cub Rosomakha are at PRNCO “Tiger Center” in the village of Alekseyevka in the Primorye Territory, and a tigress from the Bikinsky District is at the Utyos Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in the village of Kutuzovka in the Khabarovsk Territory.

Another tigress that had been staying at the rehab centre in Alekseyevka since December 2020 was released into the wild in a central district of the Primorye Territory on 24 January 2021.