Pig-tailed macaques, cougars and long-eared owls: Sergei Sobyanin told whom specialists of the Moscow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center nurse and how

Approximately 1,500 messages about wild animals are received every year at the city contact center, Sergei Sobyanin wrote on his blog. Moscow citizens report about animals and birds they meet on city streets. There were fox cubs found on the territory of a kindergarten, raccoons found in the metro and an iguana was walking along a bike path in one of the yards once.

“The most difficult case are exotic, often Red Book animals. The hotline of the Moscow Government receives messages about tiny capuchin monkeys, macaws, lion and tiger cubs regularly. And passers-by even came across a Canadian wolf on Tverskaya Street once,” the Moscow Mayor told.

According to him, most of these animals are victims of illegal trade and illegal show business that escaped or were abandoned on the street. The police seize them from their owners occasionally. And the owners themselves want to get rid of pets that have become a burden sometimes.

“To help these poor things, we opened a special center for the rehabilitation of wild animals of the Moscow Department of Environmental Resources Management. Its specialists make decisions about the further fate of animals and birds found on the streets of the city or confiscated from negligent owners,” said Sergei Sobyanin.

Animals are examined and released into the wild in a suitable urban forest most often. About a thousand creatures are returned to their natural environment every year. Sick or exotic animals are taken to the rehabilitation center in Andreikovo village near Moscow. “Spacious enclosures and warm accommodations await them there, and a whole staff of zootechnicians and veterinarians take care of their health and well-being,” the Moscow Mayor wrote.

The rehabilitation center is keeping 780 animals, reptiles and birds now. There are a crowned crane, white-tufted marmosets, green monkeys, a cougar, a Bengal tiger, a pig-tailed macaque, a red-handed tamarin, a black kite, a macaw and a golden pheasant among them.

“A Bengal tiger cub named Nur, who was going to be sold via the Internet, got to the center in 2021. Initially, the baby behaved aggressively and slept on a bowl of food - he did not believe there would always be plenty of it. He feels much better now,” said Sergei Sobyanin.

The center gets animals confiscated from unscrupulous photographers as well. 37 owls, three hawks, two primates and one python settled there last year. They were used as props for photo shoots.

The inhabitants of central Russia are cured in the center and returned to their natural habitat if possible. Exotic animals are looking for a new home - in zoos or eco-centers. If this is not possible, animals remain in the rehabilitation center where specialists take care of them.