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Russia’s Far Eastern region ready to provide Amur tigers to Leningrad Zoo

Red-listed animals that cannot return to the wild for various reasons could be transferred to the zoo upon coordination with the Moscow Zoo and Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources

VLADIVOSTOK, February 25. /TASS/. Specialists in Russia’s Primorsky Region are ready to send Amur tigers to the Leningrad Zoo in St. Petersburg, which has been left without these predators.

Red-listed animals that cannot return to the wild for various reasons could be transferred to the zoo upon coordination with the Moscow Zoo and Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor), Sergey Aramilev, director general of the Amur Tiger Center, told TASS.

"The Moscow Zoo is responsible for the tiger breeding program in captivity. The final decision is made by Rosprirodnadzor. At the same time, if the St. Petersburg zoo submits such a request, we will be happy to assist — subject to coordination with the Moscow Zoo and Rosprirodnadzor," Aramilev said.

On February 22, a 16-year-old Amur tiger named Amadeus died at the Leningrad Zoo due to acute cardiovascular failure. Earlier, in February 2025, another tiger, Zeus, which had previously been brought from Mariupol, also died at the zoo; his death was linked to heart failure caused by an acute viral infection. A tigress named Viola had also lived at the zoo but was relocated to the Voronezh Zoo in 2023 as part of the Amur tiger conservation and breeding program.

Amur tigers from the Russian Far East are periodically transported by air to western regions of Russia. On November 9, 2025, two predators captured in the Primorsky Region were flown from Khabarovsk airport to the Moscow Zoo’s Rare Species Reproduction Center for conservation, breeding, scientific, and educational purposes. In spring 2024, an injured tiger from the Primorsky Region that would not have survived in the wild was permanently relocated to the "Tiger House" facility in the Leningrad Region.