© Environment News Service (ENS) 2001
September 7, 2001

NEW YORK, New York, September 7, 2001 (ENS) - American, Chinese and Russian wildlife experts and several Chinese government agencies have joined forces to save endangered Siberian tigers and Far Eastern leopards.

An estimated 330 to 370 Siberian tigers exist in the wild, but a single population of only 25 to 40 Far Eastern, or Amur, leopards remains. The Chinese government has decided to create a new nature reserve on the Chinese-Russian border that is expected to increase the amount of suitable habitat for these big cats, which should allow them to recover. A second reserve is under consideration.

The agreement by China's Jilin Forestry Department to establish the Jilin Hunchun nature reserve along the border with Russia's Primorski Krai, follows the recommendation of biologists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) based at New York's Bronx Zoo.

The largest cats in the world, Siberian tigers hover near extinction, according to surveys in Jilin and Heilongjiang Provinces, cosponsored and organized by WCS, the United Nations Development Program, and the forestry departments of Jilin and Heilongjiang.

WCS biologists say creation of the Hunchun Tiger-Leopard Reserve is the first step in a long process of rebuilding tiger and leopard populations in China.

"We have large tracts of intact forests in northeast China, and if we protect wild prey populations, tigers will naturally recover in these areas. We have a great opportunity to demonstrate how recovery of endangered species can be done in China," said Endi Zhang, who has led conservation efforts as WCS country program director in China.

WCS biologist Dr. Dale Miquelle, who helped organize and conduct tiger surveys in China and Russia, said, "There are few tigers left in northeast China, and most of those are animals dispersing from the Russian side of the border. Therefore, the best opportunities to protect tigers in northeast China are along the Russian borders at known crossover points."

"With no evidence of breeding females, and only a handful of scattered individuals, it was clear that the only thing preventing extirpation of tigers in northeast China was the existence of a healthy population of the big cats in nearby Russia," Miquelle explained.

At a recent workshop in the city of Harbin, China, organized by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Forestry Department of Heilongjiang, plans for recovery of tigers in China began to take shape.

This effort complements the strategy that emerged from an intensive four day Amur leopard recovery workshop in Vladivostok in May led by a coalition of government and non-governmental organizations, including over 60 scientists and experts from eight countries. A Far Eastern leopard Steering Committee will be created with membership of scientists, government and non-government organizations from Russia, China and DPR Korea. Russia agreed to create and protect a single, consolidated leopard habitat in southwestern Primorskii state.

The leopard conference, sponsored by the IUCN Cat Specialist Group and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was organized by the Ministry of Nature Resources of the Russian Federation and the Wildlife Conservation Society and supported by regional and local government agencies, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Phoenix Fund.

Gennady Kolonin, representative of the Russian Ministry of Natural Resources, promised cooperation with China in all efforts to protect this species by coordinating transboundary conservation efforts.

Liu Yongfan, deputy director general of the Department of Conservation of China's State Forestry Administration, said, "China's newly released master plan for wildlife and protected areas has listed transboundary protected areas in Jilin and Heilongjiang as top conservation priorities."

Tiger and leopard habitat is shrinking due to expansion of human population and activities, and tigers that migrate to China from Russia often find little to eat in forests. They prey on livestock, which often results in reprisal killing of the tigers.

The Wildlife Conservation Society is working to create a fund to compensate farmers for livestock losses due to tigers, and to implement a monitoring program to follow the recovery process of tigers and their prey.

Snares in the forest, meant to capture wild deer, also kill tigers such as the one killed by a snare last winter in the Wandashan Mountains of Heilongjiang. Removal of snares, and protection of wild prey, will be critical ingredients to the recovery process, WCS says.

The Amur leopard is considered as critically endangered by the IUCN-World Conservation Union and trade in these leopards or their parts is banned by international treaty. The major threats to survival are depletion of prey species, loss of habitat and conflict with humans.

The Wildlife Conservation Society will help establish the new Chinese reserve and assist in its management, training reserve personnel, and helping design and implement a public education program.

A second protected area in the Wandashan Mountains of Heilongjiang, another key area for tigers in northeast China, is under consideration. Based on recommendations from the Heilongjiang Wildlife Institute and WCS, the Heilongjiang Forestry Department and Heilongjiang Forest Industry Bureau are seeking to create the Wandashan Reserve within the next year.

Xioachen Yu, a Heilongjiang Wildlife Institute wildlife biologist who has been conducting a tiger monitoring program with the support of WCS, has located areas where tigers cross the international border from Russia into the Wandashan Mountains.

"We have tigers in Heilongjiang," Yu said. "If we protect them, I know we can recover the population here." Error: Unable to read footer file.