Remember the childhood jump rope rhyme, "Cinderella! Cinderella! Dressed in yella', Went downstairs to kiss a fella'?" This Cinderella is decked out in stripes. And she doesn't jump rope.
Zolushka (Russian for "Cinderella") was found alone in 2012 by conservationists. The Amur tiger's mother was most likely killed by poachers, according to Science Daily. Zolushka was taken to a wildlife inspector of the regional Primorskii Wildlife Department where she was treated - a portion of her frostbitten tail was amputated. She spent 15 years in a tiger rehabilitation center.
Zolushka was released back into the wild in the spring of 2013, according to Science Daily. She now lives in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, where tigers had disappeared 40 years due to poaching, habitat loss and lack of prey in the area, according to Science Daily. She has been seen with a male and scientists are hoping they will see some cubs soon.
"Zolushka appears to be thriving in her new home, and represents the spearhead of a process for re-colonizing habitat once roamed over by her ancestors," said Director of the WCS Russia Program Dale Miquelle. "This story is good news for Cinderella, but also for tigers overall as she and her prince appear to be consorting in formerly lost tiger habitat. Since her release, an additional five more orphaned cubs have been rescued, rehabilitated and released also into this westernmost range of historical tiger habitat. All but one of the cubs seems to be doing well in their new environment. "
It is unknown exactly how many Amur tigers are left, but estimates show a drop from 430-500 in 2005 to 330-390 today. A full tiger survey is scheduled for February 2015.
WCS's work with Zolushka was made possible through the support of the Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation, Columbus Zoo Conservation Fund, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Rhinoceros & Tiger Conservation Fund, Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the AZA Tiger Species Survival Plan Tiger Conservation Campaign, according to Science Daily. Associates included the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution from the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Inspection Tiger, IFAW and Phoenix Fund.
