Nature - Siberian Tiger Quest

Chris Morgan has tracked large predators in some of the wildest and most remote places on Earth. He now embarks on his greatest challenge - to find and film the Siberian tiger living wild and free in Russia's far eastern forests. This film features the work of Korean cameraman, Sooyong Park, who spent two years in the forest tracking and filming the world's biggest cat. Park's tracking technique was very unconventional. He dug himself into an underground pit and, incredibly, waited there for weeks at a time, hoping for a glimpse of a wild tiger. Morgan adopts the same method while he shares with us firsthand the difficulty of seeing the rare Siberian tiger.

There are only 300 Siberian tigers left in the wild

Liz Bonnin took her life in her hands every time she ventured outside while filming her new two-part BBC2 series, Operation Snow Tiger. 

In temperatures of -38˚C and with wild tigers roaming the Russian forest where Liz was camped out in a rustic cabin with no mod cons, she knew that becoming a big cat’s breakfast was a definite possibility. 

‘You were pretty safe when you were with the group, but on your own you were vulnerable,’ explains Liz. 

‘Whatever you were doing you had to be quick, because at those temperatures you didn’t want to get frostbite. And if you let your imagination run riot, you’d think there was a tiger behind you...’ 

Luckily Liz, already well known to fans of the science show Bang Goes The Theory, survived her no-frills adventure and is back in the UK to talk about tigers, a cause particularly close to her heart – she studied tiger conservation in India and Nepal for her masters degree. 

For Operation Snow Tiger Liz travelled with a BBC camera crew to Primorye in the far south-eastern corner of Russia, to film the efforts being made to save the estimated 300 remaining Siberian tigers in the wild. With a dead tiger fetching £30,000, they’re being hunted to the brink of extinction for use in traditional Chinese medicine.

Liz and the team met experts in the protected Ussurisk Zapovednik area monitoring the remaining tigers, and the BBC Natural History Unit’s crew brought along motion-sensor cameras to capture its first-ever footage of Siberian tigers, at 70 stone the largest and most elusive of the big cats.

Liz joined the scientists to follow tiger tracks in the snow, collect hair for DNA analysis, and use radio signals to help locate seven previously tagged tigers. There was the odd scary near-miss.

‘When we were out tracking, the radio signal would bounce off hills and obstructions and wasn’t always reliable,’ says Liz. ‘Once I was chatting to one of the scientists and he said, “Wait, wait!” and suddenly the signal told us a tiger was very close.’ 

They dashed to the Jeep. 

‘My heart was beating through my chest! Only about 50 metres away was a tiger in the trees. Usually they want nothing to do with us, but on rare occasions a tiger will be dangerous if it’s injured or starving or you’re encroaching on its prey area.
‘Part of the fascination of these animals is that they’re so elusive and secretive – the fact they try not to be seen adds to the mystery and magic. We came across their beds in the snow. They were so perfect you could see where the female had lain there for six hours, where her tail had been, and there was an imprint of her chin and nostrils that had melted the snow as she slept. It was almost a 3D picture. The snow brings these tigers to life.’

There was high drama over several days when three tiger cubs whose mother had been shot by poachers had to be tracked down, captured and sent to a rehabilitation centre before they starved. ‘No one could have anticipated such dramatic events occurring while we were there,’ says Liz. 

‘When the rangers located the first one and rescued her, they got her into a cage and I was allowed to see her. Seeing those eyes staring back at me melted my heart. But it was sad because she was orphaned, bewildered, separated from her siblings.
'I wanted her to be out in the forest with her mother, but instead she would be held for a year, with minimal human contact, and trained to hunt wild prey until she was deemed fit for release into the wild. I’d love to go back next spring when hopefully all three cubs may be ready for release.’ 

Born in France but raised in Ireland, Liz took a biochemistry degree at Trinity College, Dublin, then a masters degree in wild animal biology. In between her studies she presented entertainment shows on Irish TV and had a brief stint in a short-lived Irish girl band called Chill, before moving to the UK in 2002 for a job on Channel 4’s RI:SE and then Top Of The Pops.

But in 2006 she chucked it all in to study tigers because she ‘missed academia’, before returning to TV to present science shows such as Springwatch and Stargazing Live. Siberian tiger conservation remains her passion, though. 

‘This documentary series is the result of many years of me hassling the BBC Natural History Unit. Eventually they shut me up by sending me to the Russian Far East!’
Liz is currently filming another documentary series on animal behaviour, a follow-up to last year’s Super Smart Animals, and at this rate it’s not fanciful to imagine her career emulating that of her idol David Attenborough. 

She remains modest, though, and still seems surprised at her status as one of the rising stars of science television. ‘When I was younger, watching Big Cat Diary, I used to look at the presenters and think, “Imagine doing that as a job!” But now I’m here. At the risk of sounding slightly dramatic, I feel as though my whole life has led to this point.’

Orphaned Siberian Tiger Cubs Prepared to be Returned to Nature

Last fall, in the frigid, snowy forests of the Russian Far East, three wild tiger cubs lost their most important ally: their mother. Our story began on Nov. 29 with a phone call to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) office in Vladivostok from Vladimir Vasiliev, the head of the regional wildlife department, Okhotnazor. He requested our assistance in capturing the four-month-old cubs, which had created a stir near a small village by attempting to make a meal out of a farmer's dog.

We responded immediately by deploying WCS conservationists (and brothers) Kolya and Sasha Rybin, two of the best tiger trackers in the world. The WCS team met up with rangers from the Russian agency, Inspection Tiger, the local inspector from Okhotnazor, and staff from the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution before heading out to find the cubs.

What ensued offers a frontline look at the challenges conservationists encounter in saving the world's tigers from going extinct — sometimes one tiger at a time. Today, fewer than 500 Siberian tigers — the largest of the tiger subspecies — survive, including an estimated 330 to 390 adults. Globally, only 3,200 tigers are thought to still exist in the wild, their numbers decimated by poaching, loss of prey, and habitat destruction.
On Nov. 30, the team had its first lead: fresh tracks in a recent snowfall just outside a village. Before long, the team spotted the cubs sitting in the middle of a forest road, curiously staring back at them before drifting into the woods. The team surrounded the area and was able to capture the smallest of the cubs with a combination of forked sticks and a large canvas bag. Weighing only 35 pounds, the cub already had formidable teeth and claws. (Sasha received a good nip to his finger during the capture.)

Photo shows one of the sedated Siberian tiger cubs when found. For the next six to seven months, this cub and its two siblings  would live in a specially constructed rehabilitation facility in the Russian Far East. The facility is designed to minimize the tigers' contact with humans so they will remain wary of people.

Next-generation Siberian tigers to breed in wild

China is planning to let artificially-bred next-generation Siberian tigers to breed in the wild, a leading breeding center for the endangered species announced Tuesday.

A seven-year-old tiger gave birth to a female cub on July 25, 2011, which was the first successful breeding of a Siberian tiger in the wild in China.

"This cub, now one and a half years old, will play the leading role in the wild breeding plan of the next-generation tigers," said Liu Dan, chief engineer of the Heilongjiang Siberian Tiger Garden.

The center is the world's largest breeding facility for Siberian tigers.

The cub is currently more than 70 cm long and 50 kg in weight. Its physical agility and cold resistance ability is superior to its peers due to wild training, Liu said.

The park has found a male Siberian tiger, which is one meter long and 60 kg in weight, that will live with the female tiger in the free-roaming area, Liu said.

Breeding and living in the wild is key for the tigers to go back to the mountains, he said.

The wild breeding of the next-generation Siberian tigers is another attempt to restore the tigers' wild nature and is crucial in protecting the species, he added.

Siberian tigers are one of the world's rarest animal species. Only 300 are believed to be living in the wild, with 20 in northeast China.

The country has been trying to save the species through active breeding programs. The Heilongjiang center has bred more than 1,000 Siberian tigers since its establishment in 1986, when it had just eight of the large cats.

The Saga of the Siberian Tiger

My last blog dealt with the declining vulture population in India. This week we’re going to Russia and Northern China to talk about the Siberian tiger.

This big cat also known as the Amur tiger is in terrible danger. Today, it is estimated 400 to 450 of these tigers remain in the wild. The good news, through conservation efforts by world organizations and government agencies, the species has came back from the brink when it was estimated only 40 tigers were left in their natural habitat in the 1950’s.

But the bad news is the gains made in the last 50 years are about to be wiped away in the next few years. This latest development has world wildlife conservations and experts on edge.

Why? There are a number of reasons:

1)    Poaching: Perhaps the greatest contributor to the tiger’s recent decline. Illegal hunting and the harvesting of tiger organs for traditional medicinal remedies used in China are having a huge impact. This activity is on the rise.

2)    Habitat Destruction: This can mean a number of different things. Increased logging which means road building. With the roads, large territories become cut off. Roads also make it easier for illegal hunters to move about. Climate change via forest fires has also contributed to habitat destruction.

3)    Lack of Law Enforcement: With the economies of China and Russia slowing down, budget cuts to wildlife enforcement will soon follow.  There are simply not enough good people to keep watch and to protect the tigers.

This is all very sad. But you might be saying to yourself there’s very little you can do. You can donate to international wildlife conservation funds and write letters to Chinese and Russian leaders. There are plenty of projects set up exclusively to save the Siberian tiger. Here is one project that has done a lot of work and continues to this day.

Siberian Tiger Quest

View footage of the first wild Siberian tiger that filmmaker Sooyong Park captured on camera in this scene from Siberian Tiger Quest. Park spent more than five years searching for tigers in Russia’s north eastern forests. His technique was unconventional, but produced over a thousand hours of wild tiger footage that told the story of a three-generation tiger dynasty.

Watch Alone with Tigers on PBS. See more from Nature.

Amur Tiger Family Killed in Primorye

Sources: Komsomolskaya Pravda, PrimaMedia, RIA Novosti

Eight Amur tiger skins were seized from a resident of Arseniev town in Primorsky krai (Russian Far East).

The Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) is revered by most people in Primorye as the most beautiful and majestic animal, a symbol of the region. Although there are some people who consider it just roaming “striped money” and try to get, by fair means or foul, a skin of this rare animal listed as endangered species in Red Books of the Russian Federation and IUCN. Among the seized skins there were also small ones of 1- or 2-month-old tiger cubs. The specialists think that hunters killed the whole tiger family. The damage caused to nature is huge. For example, about 8-10 adult Amur tigers live in Lazovsky Nature Reserve (120,000 ha), one of the largest nature reserves in Primorye.

“Viktor, a wildlife dealer, is well-known by investigators for his illegal business; he has been buying up illegal wildlife products since the 1990s and was apprehended several times. Unfortunately, his appetite has significantly increased since then”, Primorsky Police’ press service informed. “Besides tiger skins, the police officers found 230 ginseng roots, 97 bottles of vodka with ginseng roots, 150 cartridges and about $115,000 in cash. The man allegedly bought up the goods from poachers in order to sell them later on in China”.

The man is now facing a heavy fine or a two-year imprisonment under the article 175 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Acquisition or Sale of Property, Knowingly Obtained in a Criminal Manner). He will be also punished under the article 222 (Illegal Acquisition, Transfer, Sale, Storage, Transportation, or Bearing of Firearms, Its Basic Parts, Ammunition, Explosives, and Explosive Devices).

We are thankful to unindifferent people who informed the police about the dealer, and police officers should be applauded for their prompt and successful actions ended up with an arrest of the dealer and seizure of tiger skins. Now, the specialists must determine the gender and age of killed animals and their range. Judging by the difference of quality the skins were processed, they are likely to have been bought in different districts of Primorye.

“Despite the fact that after International Tiger Forum in St. Petersburg in 2010 the Russian Government is allocating big money to conserve Amur tigers in protected areas, poaching, however, continues to be a major hurdle yet. Unfortunately, the government is suffering defeat in its fight with poachers”, says Sergei Bereznuk, Director of the Phoenix Fund. “We have not recovered yet from the last alarming news about a huge seizure of skins and derivatives of wild animals in April. During a search the police accidentally discovered 148 bear paws, 2 skins of the Himalayan bear, 3 skins of the brown bear, two skins and 5 tails of Amur tiger and 5 carcasses of a sea eagle. We hope that the arrested men will receive just punishment for their crimes”.

This news was found Jen Dowdy -thanks Jen.

Tiger and kid at zoo

Tiger Wants the Next Dance with a Little Visitor to the Zoo

China announces Siberian tiger wilderness training

Harbin at a North China breeding center announced on Friday the beginning of a wilderness training program for Siberian tigers.

Seven Siberian tigers are participating in the program and the figure is expected to rise to 11 by the end of the year, said sources with the Heilongjiang Siberian Tiger Garden, the world's largest breeding center for Siberian tigers.

Participating tigers must be cubs born within the breeding center, said chief engineer Liu Dan, adding that they will be sent to demarcated areas within the center's reserve accompanied by their mothers.

"It's an arduous experiment," Liu said, adding that the cubs must be three months or older in order to endure the wilderness.

Siberian tigers are one of the world's rarest animal species. Only 300 are believed to be living in the wild, with 20 in northeast China.

China has been trying to save the species through active breeding programs. The Heilongjiang center has bred over 1,000 Siberian tigers since opening in 1996, when it had just eight of the large cats.

Infrared camera snaps Siberian tiger in wild

The forestry department of Wangqing county in Jilin province confirmed this week it has captured photos of a wild Siberian tiger again with a far-infrared camera set up on Changbai Mountain.

Forestry department workers set the cameras up on the mountain in March and discovered the photos after recently retrieving the cameras.

Jiang Guangshun, expert of the World Wide Fund for Nature, helped confirm that the animals in the photos are the rare cats.

The photos taken in April are valuable for research purposes, he told China Daily on Thursday.
There are about 500 Siberian tigers in the world, mainly live the border region between China, Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

China has intensified the preservation of forests and protection of wildlife in the past decade. The efforts have paid off, with the rare cats' population showing recovery.

Dog Nurses Siberian Tiger Cubs In Sochi, Russia

Two Siberian tiger cubs abandoned in Russia by their mother have found an unusual wet nurse — a wrinkled, sand-colored Shar Pei dog named Cleopatra, a zoo worker said Wednesday.

The cubs were born late May in a zoo at the Oktyabrsky health resort in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Zoo assistant director Viktoria Kudlayeva said the dog immediately gave the cubs all her attention.
"She accepted them right away," Kudlayeva said in a telephone interview. "She's cleaning them and breast feeding them as if they were her own. And they also sleep together."

The cubs — named Clyopa, after their adopted mother, and Plyusha — are also being fed goat's milk.
Kudlayeva said that the cubs pose no danger to the dog even though they are already showing their claws and hissing.

"They aren't aggressive and they depend on her for feeding," she said.

Fewer than 400 Siberian tigers — also known as Ussuri, Amur or Manchurian tigers — have survived in the wild, most of them in Russia's Far East.

Is there a future for Amur tigers in a restored tiger conservation landscape in Northeast China?

The future of wild tigers is dire, and the Global Tiger Initiative's (GTI) goal of doubling tiger population size by the next year of the tiger in 2022 will be challenging. The GTI has identified 20 tiger conservation landscapes (TCL) within which recovery actions will be needed to achieve these goals. The Amur tiger conservation landscape offers the best hope for tiger recovery in China where all other subspecies have most likely become extirpated. To prioritize recovery planning within this TCL, we used tiger occurrence data from adjacent areas of the Russian Far East to develop two empirical models of potential habitat that were then averaged with an expert-based habitat suitability model to identify potential tiger habitat in the Changbaishan ecosystem in Northeast China. We assessed the connectivity of tiger habitat patches using least-cost path analysis calibrated against known tiger movements in the Russian Far East to identify priority tiger conservation areas (TCAs). Using a habitat-based population estimation approach, we predicted that a potential of 98 (83–112) adult tigers could occupy all TCAs in the Changbaishan ecosystem. By combining information about habitat quality, connectivity and potential population size, we identified the three best TCAs totaling over 25 000 km² of potential habitat that could hold 79 (63–82) adult tigers. Strong recovery actions are needed to restore potential tiger habitat to promote recovery of Amur tigers in China, including restoring ungulate populations, increasing tiger survival through improved anti-poaching activities, land-use planning that reduces human access and agricultural lands in and adjacent to key TCAs, and maintaining connectivity both within and across international boundaries. Our approach will be useful in other TCLs to prioritize recovery actions to restore worldwide tiger populations.

Four Siberian tigers poached in two weeks

On April 18, a Chinese woman was detained on the Russian border in the Far Eastern region of Primorye with three Siberian tiger legs.

According to the press service of the local branch of the World Wildlife Fund, the legs (two from an adult male, the other from a young male or adult female) were hidden beneath her clothes.

At least four Siberian tigers have been killed in the past two weeks, Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency added, citing local law enforcement and customs officers. The population of Siberian tigers, also known as Amur tigers, in Russia's Primorye and Khabarovsk regions reportedly numbers up to 450 animals.

The report said that the tiger legs were "treated in a traditional Chinese method," implying that they were meant to be used for traditional Chinese medicine. Tiger bones and claws are used for various remedies, with powdered bone prepared as "tiger wine," an especially popular treatment for rheumatic pain, ulcers, malaria, and burns.

Poaching continues to be a threat to attempts to preserve the subspecies in southeastern Russian and northeastern China.

But as the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) reports, Russia on April 9 declared the merger of three existing natural reserves in the region into what has been dubbed the "Land of the Leopard" national park. The park will not only be a boon to the Siberian tiger but to the even-more-endangered Far Eastern (Amur) leopard subspecies, thought to number less than 40.

"We commend the Russian government for their foresight in creating this new protected area, and we are optimistic that it will provide a critical refuge for some of the most endangered big cats on the planet," WCS Russia Program Director Dale Miquelle said.

With this good news, one can only hope the tigers fare better than the poor beast that allegedly met its end for the benefit of a photo-op for once-and-future Russian President Vladimir Putin.

One Step Forward, One Step Back For Russia's Siberian Tigers

On April 18, a Chinese woman was detained on the Russian border in the Far Eastern region of Primorye with three Siberian tiger legs.

According to the press service of the local branch of the World Wildlife Fund, the legs (two from an adult male, the other from a young male or adult female) were hidden beneath her clothes.

At least four Siberian tigers have been killed in the past two weeks, Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency added, citing local law enforcement and customs officers. The population of Siberian tigers, also known as Amur tigers, in Russia's Primorye and Khabarovsk regions reportedly numbers up to 450 animals.

The report said that the tiger legs were "treated in a traditional Chinese method," implying that they were meant to be used for traditional Chinese medicine. Tiger bones and claws are used for various remedies, with powdered bone prepared as "tiger wine," an especially popular treatment for rheumatic pain, ulcers, malaria, and burns.

Poaching continues to be a threat to attempts to preserve the subspecies in southeastern Russian and northeastern China.

But as the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) reports, Russia on April 9 declared the merger of three existing natural reserves in the region into what has been dubbed the "Land of the Leopard" national park. The park will not only be a boon to the Siberian tiger but to the even-more-endangered Far Eastern (Amur) leopard subspecies, thought to number less than 40.

"We commend the Russian government for their foresight in creating this new protected area, and we are optimistic that it will provide a critical refuge for some of the most endangered big cats on the planet," WCS Russia Program Director Dale Miquelle said.

With this good news, one can only hope the tigers fare better than the poor beast that allegedly met its end for the benefit of a photo-op for once-and-future Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Tell China- Save the Siberian Tiger

• Target: China Ministry of Finance, Mr. Xiaosong Zheng, Ms. Jiandi Ye
• Sponsored by: Animal Advocates

The Siberian tiger, or Amur tiger is a critically endangered species with one of the primary threats to its' survival in the wild being poaching.

Their former range included northeastern China and the Korean Peninsula, and as far west as Mongolia. Now, almost all wild Siberian tigers live the Southeast corner of Russia in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range east of the Amur River.

Tigers are most commonly poached for their fur and for their body parts used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. In 1993 the State Council of the People's Republic of China issued a notice declaring the use of tiger bone for medicinal purposes to be illegal. However, because it is such a lucrative trade, a single tiger can bring up to $50k on the International market, so the practice is still flourishing.

If the Siberian tiger is to survive extinction in the wild, China must do more to replace the Traditional Chinese Medicine with phamecutical alternatives and substitue medicines.


Mr. Xiaosong Zheng
Director General
Ministry of Finance - International Department
Sanlihe Xicheng District
Beijing - 100820
China
Tel: + 8610 6855 1122
Fax: + 8610 6855 1125
EMail: xs.zheng@mof.gov.cn

Ms. Jiandi Ye
Deputry Director
Ministry of Finance
IFI Division III International Department San Li He St. Xichengqu
Beijing - 100820
China
Tel: + 86 10 6855-1171
Fax: + 86 10 6855 1125
EMail: jdye@mof.gov.cn

Russia Sends Siberian Tigers to Iran to Save Species

Two pairs of Siberian tigers are being sent to Iran from Russia as part of a joint project to boost the species' dwindling numbers  in the Middle Eastern country.

The Siberian, or Amur tigers, will arrive at the Miankaleh wildlife reserve on the coast of the Caspian Sea later this year.

The region's Caspian tigers have been almost wiped out because of excessive hunting and changes to their environment. Iranian zoologists chose the Amur tigers as a replacement because of genetic similarities.

The plan is to send the tigers to Iran during the winter to replicate as near as possible the Siberian weather conditions they are used to and reduce stress on the animals.

There are only a few hundred Amur tigers left in Russia.

In 2010, two Siberian tigers from Russia were housed at a zoo in Tehran, including a pregnant tigress, but one of them died.

Eleven tigers in a single photograph is a rare sight, indeed

Tigers are exceedingly rare. They're also very solitary creatures. So why are there 11 of them gathered in this photograph?
These aren't your typical tigers. The cats you see here live in China's Heilongjiang Northeast Tiger Forest Park, the largest Siberian tiger breeding base on Earth. When it was founded in the mid eighties, the Park had only 8 tigers. Today, that number is estimated by some to be upwards of 800.
New Scientist's Rowan Hooper writes:

The Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) - also known as the Amur tiger - is classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List. Most of the estimated 400 Siberian tigers in the wild are in Russia, with a few in China. The wild ones, not unlike those in this tiger park, are heavily inbred, having passed through a genetic bottleneck in the 20th century, during which 95 per cent of all tigers were killed.
This means that although the Chinese park contains hundreds of Siberian tigers, and there are those wild ones in Russia, the population's genetic diversity - which is a good guide to its vulnerability to extinction - is equivalent to that of just 14 individuals.

These tigers live, hunt, play, and even feed together — taking meals from trained caretakers, prowling for young steers that are released into the park, and chasing down live chickens, which tourists can pay to fling at the massive predators.

Tigers at Blank Park Zoo undergo rare insemination procedure

Two Siberian tigers at the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines underwent a rare artificial insemination today that could help the endangered species survive in the wild.

Natural breeding has failed for nearly a decade. Now researchers must wait about 40 days to find out if Goldy is pregnant by Kavacha’s sperm.

If successful, it would mark the first time this particular insemination method — advanced by scientists from the Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens — has helped Siberian tigers in captivity have cubs.

Two scientists from Cincinnati flew to Des Moines to help with the surgery. The project is a joint effort by the zoo, Iowa State University and the Cincinnati researchers.

Scientists said if the procedure is perfected with frozen semen, it could be used to improve the genetics of both captive and wild populations.

Siberian tigers, after decades of hunting, poaching and habitat destruction, are critically endangered. Fewer than 400 are estimated to live in the wild; 143 are in Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited institutions.

The number of recorded artificial insemination attempts with tigers is between 50 and 60, but only two or three have been successful.

Help save Siberian tigers from extinction

To the Editor:

My name is Rowan E. Montgomery and I’m 9 years old. I want to tell you about Siberian tigers and how they’re going extinct.

Siberian tigers live in Russia. They are aggressive and hunt alone. They’re active mostly at night. In the nature special I watched on the Discovery channel, these tigers were so aggressive that they destroyed a fake Siberian tiger that the scientists put out. The fake tiger was so realistic that even the dogs thought it was real! By morning all of the color was taken off and the head, arms and tail were destroyed. This shows how powerful these animals are. They can grow as long as 13 feet and weigh as much as 700 pounds!

Siberian tigers are being killed by guns and other weapons for their body parts and fur. People sell the whiskers, bones and skins. In China they make medicine out of the bones even though it is illegal. Siberian tigers live in forests that are getting cut down for logging, taking away the land they need to live. Between 360 and 450 Siberian tigers are left in the world.

You could help to save the Siberian tigers if you wrote letters to the government, made a donation to a tiger conservation organization, or adopt a Siberian tiger from a zoo. You can make a difference if you just try.


Rowan E. Montgomery
Clay

Volunteers clear traps for Siberian tigers in NE China

Dozens of volunteers braved freezing temperatures and knee-high snow to clear traps for endangered wild Siberian tigers in northeast China this week.

In six groups, 73 volunteers searched six forest farms in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang in a four-day trap-clearing campaign that ended Friday.

The volunteers, age 18 and 65, included doctors, computer engineers, public servants and college students. There was even an Australian named Melissa Pettigrew.

If more people go out to clear traps in order to protect Siberian tigers, the endangered animals and their offspring can be better protected, Pettigrew said.

Winter is a tough season for the rare tigers as their prey becomes scarce, and the animals sometimes die from not having enough to eat or by coming into contact with a hunter's bullet or a trap.

Wang Lin, an initiator of the trap-clearing campaign, said that every winter, poachers set iron wire ring traps to catch wild animals like rabbits and roe deer as they can be more easily tracked on snow.

"The traps are cheap but very dangerous," said Wang. "They reduce the population of small animals, which are often prey for the tigers. They can even hurt tigers or help to catch them."

In late October 2011, a wild Siberian tiger was found dead with a trap around its neck in the city of Mishan in Heilongjiang, prompting environmentalists to call for enhanced wildlife protection.

Four to six wild Siberian tigers are believed to be living on the six forest farms, underscoring the importance of the volunteers' protection efforts.

Workers at one forest farm filmed a Siberian tiger last November, and with improving ecology, there have been more and more tiger paw prints spotted over the past couple of years.

One group of volunteers cleared 39 traps in the first three days, but their efforts were called off a day ahead of schedule after a forest farm worker told them he spotted a Siberian tiger and avoided the big cat by hiding behind a tree on Wednesday.

Two World Wildlife Fund experts tracked the tiger's paw prints on the snow for a day on Thursday, and found the female adult tiger roaming along a deserted forest road.

Siberian tigers are among the world's rarest species. The population of wild Siberian tigers is estimated at around 500, most of which live in Russia's far east and China's northeast.

There are only about 20 left in China, mostly in Heilongjiang and its neighboring province of Jilin, and according to Xinhua's calculations, seven have been found dead since 1993. Most of their deaths were related to human activities.

In November 2010, leaders from 13 countries, including China and Russia, committed to backing the Global Tiger Recovery Program, which aims to double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022.

China has set up nature reserves along its border with Russia to better protect the tigers' habitats by curbing excessive deforestation and poaching.

"Clearing one trap means reducing some danger," said Liu Tong, an expert with the New York-based non-profit organization Wildlife Conservation Society. "What we want to see most is no poaching and no traps in the habitats of the endangered Siberian tigers."