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Russia’s small pop­u­la­tion of highly-​endangered Amur tigers has almost halved in the last seven years despite attempts to pro­tect them, the Inter­na­tional Fund for Ani­mal Wel­fare (IFAW) said on Thurs­day, ahead of Sunday’s Tiger Day.

Just 80 of the big cats remain in the wild in the Amur Region in Russia’s Far East, accord­ing to mon­i­tor­ing in 16 zones there, down from 120 in the period 2004 – 5. Habi­tat shrink­age and a declin­ing food base con­tinue, despite mea­sures to pro­tect the ani­mals put in place after the 2010 Tiger Sum­mit in St. Peters­burg, IFAW says. “Every year there are more orphan tigers, which is a sign of a falling pop­u­la­tion and the rate of fall in the pop­u­la­tion today rep­re­sents a threat to their existence.”

“Rus­sia must strictly pro­tect the tiger’s habi­tat, stop the bar­baric and ille­gal destruc­tion of the for­est and imple­ment a rig­or­ous anti-​poaching cam­paign, both against tiger-​hunters and those hunt­ing their prey,” Vorontsova said. Russ­ian law does not pun­ish poach­ers caught in pos­ses­sion of tiger pelts, or other ani­mal parts, she added.

In August 2012, Pri­morye police con­fis­cated eight tiger skins from the head of a band of poach­ers but could only pros­e­cute him for arms pos­ses­sion offences, she explained. “The effort and means is there, but we need to add the state’s will and respon­si­bil­ity. Or Tiger Day risks becom­ing a day when we will have tears in our eyes,” she said.

Since 2000, Tiger Day has been marked annu­ally on the last Sun­day of Sep­tem­ber in the Far East city of Vladi­vos­tok, and is sup­ported by the city and regional author­i­ties and IFAW.

The above news item is reprinted from mate­ri­als avail­able at ALTA, Amur Leop­ard and Tiger Alliance. Orig­i­nal text may be edited for con­tent and length.

(Source: ALTA, 27.09.2012)