VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA (February 4, 2014) – A team of conservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society, along with Russian authorities, immobilizes an ailing Amur (or Siberian) tiger from Amur Province in the Russian Far East on Feb 2nd. WCS has the only specialists in the region trained in the capture and immobilization of big cats.

The emaciated tiger was brought to a wildlife care facility where it is being evaluated for injuries or disease including canine distemper, which WCS and Russian veterinarians recently confirmed can infect Amur tigers.

Although 300-400 tigers live in Khabarovskii and Primorskii Provinces of the Russian Far East, tigers disappeared from the more western Amur Province more than 30 years ago. Occasionally tracks of tigers are still reported there.

WCS has been working on tiger conservation in the Russian Far East since 1993. Our work focuses on research to understand the ecology and behavior of tigers, and initiatives to halt the threats to tigers -- poaching, habitat loss, conflict, and disease.

CONTACT:
STEPHEN SAUTNER: (1-718-220-3682; ssautner@wcs.org)
JOHN DELANEY: (1-718-220-3275; jdelaney@wcs.org)
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. VISION: WCS envisions a world where wildlife thrives in healthy lands and seas, valued by societies that embrace and benefit from the diversity and integrity of life on earth. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in more than 60 nations and in all the world’s oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: www.wcs.org; facebook.com/TheWCS; youtube.com/user/WCSMedia; follow: @theWCS.

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