Sick Tigers Stray into Human Settlements in Primorye

VLADIVOSTOK. June 24. VOSTOK-MEDIA – Experts at WWF-Russia have supported the establishment of a fact-finding committee on the deaths of a Siberian tiger and her three cubs in Terneysky District, Primorye, at a recent session of a working group attached to the Administration of Primorsky Krai.

A source in the WWF’s Moscow office told Vostok-Media that the death of three tiger cubs and their mother has added the list of animals that died of unexplained causes. The establishment of the committee under the auspices of Primorsky Krai Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage should facilitate the investigation of the mysterious deaths in Terneisky District. The working group has also paid due attention to the fact that there have been several tigers with abnormal behavior which might have resulted from a disease. The committee decided to gather all of the facts and analyze them.

WWF experts, sharing this concern, have conducted their own brief analysis of the deaths of tigers with “aberrant behavior” based on their own impressions, expert examinations, as well as on the official documents, reports and autopsy protocols. They found that of the six known cases of similar tiger deaths in the past decade, only three tigers may be considered to have died of the same disease. In each of the three cases the tigers came close to human settlements, exhibited no aggressiveness towards people and the attempts to frighten or drive them away were unsuccessful. Despite the fact that all of these tigers received high-quality veterinary treatment they refused to eat and drink and later they died. The full-scale study was conducted only on one of the tigers. The study and analysis was carried out by experts at Ussiriisk Veterinary Lab, Primorsky Krai Agricultural Academy and Ivanovsky Institute of Virology attached to the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. The cases occurred at long intervals, and that indicates that there was no immediate outbreak of the disease. Vladivostok records on tigers show that similar behavior of tigers was observed in the mid-20^th century.

“Unlike lions, which live in prides, tigers are very solitary animals except for the mating seasons and periods when female tigers bring up their younglings,” said Segei Aranilev, biodiversity conservation program coordinator at WWF-Russias Amur branch. “This way of life prevents dissemination of epizootics. Formerly, little attention was paid to tiger diseases. Actually, it was not until very recently that we started receiving some reliable data on tiger diseases. The term “unidentified disease” does not mean that it has never been detected in other felines. These deaths might have resulted from combination of diseases or factors. We should detect this disease as soon as possible and find out how to treat it. Still, the major reasons behind the tiger population decline are poaching and illegal logging.”

The rest of the analyzed cases are surrounded with such contradicting versions and inconsistencies, even in official documents, that there’s no chance one can ascertain with certainty the “aberrant behavior” of the tigers and exclude the possibility of human factor and the elements of provoking.”