September 06, 2021

A Big Win for Big Cats


A Big Win for Big Cats
While these cats are still a long way from being in a safe, this is still a huge milestone for their conservation. Photo by Andy Holmes via Unsplash

A recent conversation between the Eastern branch of the World Wildlife Fund of Russia and RIA News has given us some promising information about the future of the Far East's big cat population. According to a representative from the group, both the populations of the Amur Tiger and the Amur Leopard have surpassed the point where extinction is a critical concern. 

A lot of this progress has happened incrementally over the past several years, thanks to the help of state-run animal and nature conservation programs. For the tigers, the Amur Tiger Center has been an immense help. The organization estimates that the current total number of tigers within the Russian/Manchurian region is somewhere between 450-480. 

The Land of the Leopard National Park has created an excellent reservation for the cats to live within and estimates to have around 110 leopards in the park. Of course, even the most solid borders are mere suggestions for these cats, as a fence is no obstacle for these excellent climbers. The cats do move between Russia and China of their own free will, either for hunting or for breeding, and this is likely to change in the future as the ecology of the two countries changes too.  

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