Police save smuggled Amur tiger cub in Western Siberia

Police in Nizhnevartovsk intercepted a gang smuggling a young tiger caught in the wild as a small cub. Several smugglers were arrested in the city amid suspicions the tiger was to be supplied to China. The Amur - or Siberian - tiger cub was flown to Moscow and is undergoing medical tests. 

Anton Kulbachevsky, head of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection in Moscow, said: 'Parts of bodies of tigers obtained in Russia basically go to China. They are in demand for Chinese medicine and cuisine. In fact it is considered a delicacy. People pay huge money for this.'

Officers from the Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Department, working with colleagues from Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous district, were alerted to the tiger cub's presence in Nizhnevartovsk, evidently on a black market supply route to China.

'They confiscated the cub from the smugglers who were engaged in the resale of animals listed in the Red Book,' said Elena Alekseeva, an Interior Ministry official. 

Police took the cub to Moscow by plane and passed it to staff of the Moscow government's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection. The cub is now undergoing examination by specialists of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution. It will not be returned to the wild amid fears it would not survive after being captured by man. A competition is underway to name the animal.

Only 500 Amur tigers remain in the wild. The population is slowly but gradually increasing, but is not yet at a level where its stability is guaranteed.