Tiger Comes under the Spotlight in Khabarovsk

KHABAROVSK. October 26. VOSTOK-MEDIA – Reporters from almost all Khabarovsk news outlets flocked to the city’s airport earlier today to meet a plane carrying a tiger. While even a celebrity could not expect to be greeted with so many cameras, on this occasion the VIP-passenger was a cat, albeit a remarkably big and rare cat.

The tiger that has come under the spotlight is an 18-month old male named Zhorik, who has already become a celebrity. Zhorik has gained a widespread media coverage - featuring in newspapers and on mainstream TV channels.

Karen Dallakyan, an animal specialist who had been taking care of the tiger in a vet clinic, went to Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg to see Zhorik off to the Ussuriysk taiga. The vet clinic manager said the then little cub was brought to the clinic from a Chelyabinsk zoo more than a year ago, when he had had his palate penetrated by a sharp-ended chicken bone causing a swelling which gradually developed into a severe inflammation. Animal doctors in Yekaterinburg misdiagnosed him and extracted a tooth. As the swelling continued to devour the tiger’s muzzle, the veterinarians were about to put Zhorik down and make a stuffed animal of him. However, after 16 operations, the animal specialists finally managed to reconstruct his muzzle. The wounds are still bleeding slightly and the doctors are now unable to do anything to restore the left halves of the lips and upper teeth.

When the tiger recovered, it was decided to move him to a suitable rehabilitation facility. Zhora will “take up residence” in the animals rehabilitation center Utyos located in Kutuzovka, a village in Khabarovsk Region.