Rare tiger cub rescued after mother feared killed by poachers

The emaciated cub is now in the care of veterinary specialists  in the Far East of Russia. It was found in a village of Khasansky district in Primorsky region. Only around 500 of the Amur - or Siberian - tigers exist in the wild, and there are fears this cub is one of three orphaned after poachers shot their mother.

Starving, the baby tiger approached a vegetable garden in the village where it was cornered by local dogs. One attacked the cub and cornered it by a fence. The owner pulled off the dog and reported the cub to wildlife experts from the Land of the Leopard national park.

They joined with experts from the Centre Amur Tiger as well as the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and, deep in the night, rushed to the site. The tiger suffered injuries from the dog attack.

Ekaterina Blidchenko, vet for the Centre Amur Tiger, said: 'Examination of the cub showed that it is a female of around 4 months old. She was in extreme exhaustion. Currently, she is under veterinary care, and her condition is stable. The animal begins to eat slowly, we hope for improvement. Until then, it is too early to make any predictions about her life.' 

Viktor Storozhuk, monitoring engineer in the Land of the Leopard park, said: 'Judging from her appearance, the tiger did not eat properly for about three weeks. During this time, she could eat the remnants of dead animals or the remnants of discarded food. 

'There are two possible answers to the question of what happened to her mother. If it was her first litter, she  might reject a baby due to poor maternal instinct. However, most often, in such cases it appears that the mother was killed.'

The director of the Primorsky branch of the Centre Amur Tiger, Sergei Aramilev, said: 'Unfortunately, our predictions are coming true. This year is really difficult for ungulates, and consequently, tigers, which depend on them for food, and this is the first sign of this situation. 

'The experts are yet to find out what happened to the mother of this cub, and whether she is the one of the three cubs, which were spotted earlier on a road in the Khasan district. 

'Our first priority is to bring the animal to the normal physiological condition. And then to make a decision on its future. Our organisation will make every effort to save the tiger cub and later return it to the wild.'

Wildlife experts are now searching for other tiger cubs in the area. Recently there has been success in rehabilitating Amur tiger cubs and - later - returning them to the wild.