An Amur tiger named Zolushka has made history as the first of her kind to give birth to two cubs after being reintroduced to the wild.
Captured on motion-sensing cameras at Bastak Nature Reserve in Far East Russia, Zolushka, whose name means “Cinderella” in Russian, was spotted with her two young cubs, marking a significant milestone in conservation efforts.
Zolushka was found orphaned in the winter of 2012, likely due to poaching, and was released back into her natural habitat in 2013 after a successful rehabilitation.
To monitor her adaptation, she was fitted with a satellite radio collar, and scientists and rangers have closely tracked her movements and condition through a combination of field tracking and remote cameras.
The recent photographs of Zolushka and her cubs are historical evidence of her successful reintegration into the wild.
Conservationists are celebrating this triumph, including experts from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and other partnering organizations involved in her rehabilitation.
“We are overjoyed with the news of Zolushka becoming a mother to two healthy cubs,” said Masha Vorontsova, IFAW Russia Director.
“This is what we’ve all been hoping for since her release in 2013. This shows that she has fully adapted to life in the wild and can hunt, breed, and now raise a new generation of Amur tigers.”
The Amur tiger, or the Siberian tiger, is a critically endangered subspecies with only around 500 individuals remaining in the wild. Illegal poaching and habitat loss are the biggest threats to their survival.
However, the birth of Zolushka’s cubs has doubled the tiger population in Bastak Nature Reserve, providing a beacon of hope for the species.
The groundbreaking conservation effort was a collaborative project involving IFAW, the Phoenix Fund, Special Inspection Tiger, A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
In 2014, these organizations continued their efforts by releasing five Amur tigers back into the wild, marking the largest tiger release in history.
Zolushka’s story is a testament to the power of conservation, illustrating how targeted efforts can bring endangered species back from the brink.
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