Hungry tigers in Russia: advocating for changes in tiger protection methods

Dear Government of the Russian Federation! This public initiative has been launched in response to the ongoing incidents of Amur tigers approaching human settlements, indicating deep-rooted issues in wildlife conservation and the availability of sufficient food resources for large predators. Since the autumn of 2024 and continuing into the winter of 2025, there has been a concerning increase in conflicts: tigers attacking domestic dogs, cases of tigers being killed by vehicles, and growing calls from local residents to "deal with the tigers" due to fear and a lack of effective measures.

Despite official estimates that the Amur tiger population numbers around 750 individuals, while the area of Siberia and the Russian Far East exceeds 13 million hectares, these predators are struggling to find food. The observed shortage of prey is directly linked to climate anomalies (drought, heat), the intensification of sports and recreational hunting, and ongoing deforestation. Contrary to the government’s stated goals of protecting tigers, the actual situation suggests otherwise. There is an obvious contradiction between official statements about the "priority protection of predators" and the increasing scale of economic activities that reduce their food supply and provoke human-wildlife conflicts.

These facts were confirmed by the Russian federal government in February 2025 during meetings held in Moscow. However, at the same time, the Ministry of Natural Resources continues to tell citizens in its systematic responses that there are no issues and that tigers are not starving! This creates clear contradictions and demonstrates flaws in the management system.

In a situation where people are intensifying sports hunting, competing with tigers for ungulate prey, and forest areas continue to be fragmented due to logging, predator incursions into human settlements are becoming almost inevitable. This situation creates high social tension, as some local residents, driven by fear, may resort to unauthorized methods of "solving the problem," which directly threatens the lives of animals listed in the Red Book.

To prevent further escalation of this crisis, we propose the following concrete measures:

1. Launching a federal program for restoring wildlife habitats in Amur tiger range areas. This project should include comprehensive improvements to the prey base as well as the rehabilitation and protection of key landscapes.
2. Implementing a moratorium on sports hunting in tiger-populated regions for at least three to five years to eliminate competitive removal of ungulates and provide tiger populations with sufficient resources for recovery and reproduction.
3. Imposing a moratorium on deforestation in tiger habitats. This will prevent further fragmentation of ecosystems, which directly affects the ability of predators to successfully hunt in natural conditions.
4. Creating a unified digital platform based on artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor tiger movements in real time, analyze their behavior, and maintain accurate population records. The use of GPS trackers and mobile devices to track tiger populations and other large predators is an already well-established global practice.
5. Establishing a warning and rapid response system, where in the event of a tiger being detected near human settlements, an emergency SMS alert is sent to residents. Simultaneously, a field response team of specialists (zoologists, veterinarians, inspectors) is deployed to manage the situation and minimize risks for both humans and the animal.

These measures are outlined in more detail in the official document of our initiative. We emphasize that the lack of decisive action by state authorities will inevitably worsen the problem. The situation risks becoming uncontrollable, as growing social tensions may result in unauthorized killings of tigers, which could ultimately lead to the downgrading of their conservation status and the legitimization of their mass extermination.

In light of the above, we call on the Government of the Russian Federation to review the proposed set of measures and initiate the development of concrete solutions aimed at reducing human-tiger conflicts, preserving unique natural heritage, and ensuring a stable future for Amur tigers in Russia. Delaying the resolution of this issue will result in not only ecological but also social consequences, whereas timely action will provide a real opportunity to protect this valuable predator and create a sustainable model for the coexistence of wildlife and human communities in the country.