Saving a Tiger Named Cinderella
On an icy day in February 2012, two hunters in eastern Russia discovered a limp bundle of fur lying in the snow. It was an orphaned cub（幼虎）！The cub hadn’t eaten in days, and was ____1____ enough for the hunters just to pick her up. Dr. Dale Miquelle, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Russia Program, said, “A healthy tiger cub, even a three-month-old one, would give you reason to ____2____ before you stuck your hand too close to its teeth and claws. But this cub had no ____3____ left in her.”
The hunters wrapped the cub in a coat and ____4____ her to a local wildlife inspector, Andrey Oryol. Over the following weeks, Oryol ____5____ the orphaned cub back to health. But now he had a new problem: What could he do with an ____6____ three-month-old tiger?
The cub was an Amur tiger. ____7____ a small number of Amur tigers remained in the wild, so scientists wanted to return ____8____ cubs to their natural habitat. The orphaned cub was taken to a new wildlife center. The center was designed for raising wild animals without ____9____ them to people. It uses hidden cameras and covered fences to keep workers out of ____10____. That way, the animals don’t become ____11____ on humans.
The cub, now named Cinderella, became the center’s first tiger. Over the next year, she grew into a big, healthy tigress. In the center, she learned to hunt. By the spring of 2013, experts agreed she was ____12____ to return to the wild.
They chose the perfect new ____13____ for their tiger princess: the Bastak Nature Reserve. During the next two years, researchers watched Cinderella’s ____14____. They set up cameras to snap photos. When Cinderella passed in front of one of these camera ____15____, it took her picture. Cinderella not only ____16____, but grew healthy and strong.
Then, in December 2015, the cameras ____17____ exciting news: Cinderella had become a mother! For the first time ever, a tiger that humans had ____18____ and returned to the wild had given birth to two cubs of her own.
Tigers are some of the most admired animals on our planet, but they are also ____19____. Thanks to the work of conservationists like Dr. Miquelle, there is new ____20____ for these magnificent cats.