RT.com
21 Nov 2023, 18:13 GMT+10
Big cats that stray into human settlements often kill livestock and pose a threat to residents
A resident of a remote Russian village urged neighbors to be on guard after filming what appears to be footprints of an Amur tiger crossing a street. The endangered animals are a significant threat in the Far Eastern Khabarovsk region, where the video was taken.
The warning was circulated on Monday by local online news outlets. The footage shows a snowy rural landscape, as the woman puts her hand next to the footprints to show their size in comparison.
"That one is not small," she and another woman can be heard commenting. "Be careful, because he clearly went here not so long ago".
The tiger alert came from Sita, a village of just over 1,200 residents located in the sparsely-populated Lazo district in the southern part of the region. The district shares a border with China and is a natural habitat for the majestic predator. For residents of the area, big cats are a routine hazard.
Just last week, the local media reported on a tiger pestering Mukhen, a slightly larger village with almost 3,000 inhabitants located some 50 km to the east of Sita. The cat - or maybe two of them, as some locals believe - has reportedly snatched several guard dogs since first reaching the community sometime in October.
Officials from the local hunting control service, who have the authority and skills to deal with government-protected Amur tigers, confirmed finding footprints in the vicinity, but could not find the animal, a Khabarovsk media outlet reported last Wednesday.
Tigers may be a lethal threat on their own territory, but normally avoid human settlements, according to wildlife specialists. They do not hunt domestic dogs or livestock, unless forced by hunger.
"In all the cases of conflicts with tigers last year, when adult animals had to be extracted from villages or were found dead, they had some injuries inflicted by gunfire or snares," Sergey Aramilev, who heads a tiger rescue group, told the newspaper.
Nevertheless, villagers in Khabarovsk Region are regularly reminded about their feline neighbors. Last December, an Amur tiger strayed into the village of Bichevaya, roughly 40 km south of Sita, and had to be run off.
That cat was reportedly particularly polite, didn't hurt any local animals, and left "as soon as it read the street signs and found the right direction," locals joked at the time.
(RT.com)
Get a daily dose of Hong Kong Herald news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Hong Kong Herald.
More InformationNAYPYIDAW, Myanmar: Kyar Win, spokesperson for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, which launched a surprise offensive last month against ...
BEIJING, China: The country's commerce ministry said that during a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Ho ...
(Photo credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports) Sophia Smith scored early in a rare start at center forward and the U.S. ...
Singapore, Zurich, and New York topped the Economist magazine's ranking this yearSingapore and Zurich are the world's most expensive cities ...
MANILA, PHILIPPINES - China has executed two Filipinos for drug trafficking despite high-level Philippine government appeals to commute their death ...
You'll be able to pay your taxes. You'll be able to share, and like, cute cat videos. You'll be able ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: This week, the White House said that Senior Biden administration officials met with the makers of respiratory syncytial ...
CHEYENNE, Wyoming: This week, the Biden administration raised US$3.4 million from a sale of oil and gas drilling rights in ...
NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks extended their rally on Friday despite remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell ...
MOSCOW, Russia: Russia's trade in oil with India, one of the most lucrative oil trade routes since the imposition of ...
LONDON - Health experts and tobacco campaigners have strongly criticized New Zealand's decision to repeal laws that aimed to ban ...
NEW YORK, New York - The Dow Jones index was the standout on U.S. financial markets on Thursday with a ...