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Russia set for first joint tiger census with China

The census that is conducted once in ten years will start in winter, Sergey Aramilev, the head of the local branch of the Amur Tiger Center, said

VLADIVOSTOK, October 24. /TASS/. Environmentalists in Russia’s Far East are preparing for the first Amur tiger census in cooperation with China, a local tiger conservation activist said on Friday.

Sergey Aramilev, the head of the local branch of the Amur Tiger Center, told TASS that the census that is conducted once in ten years will start in winter.

He said the tiger tracks “will be measured and mapped,” adding that automatic photo cameras will be used during the census.

“The Russian Natural Resources Ministry has officially informed the Chinese side about the tiger census and asked China to join the count,” Aramilev said in reply to a question whether Kuzya the tiger released by President Vladimir Putin would be also counted. Kuzya is thought to have crossed the Russian border into China.

“Russia asks China to take the opportunity and count the tigers together,” he said.

According to China’s estimates, some 20 Amur tigers live in the country, while Russian environmentalists say there are no more than ten.

The Amur tiger, also known as Siberian tiger, is on the Red List of Threatened Species. In 2010, Russia launched a national strategy to protect the Siberian tiger, the largest of the five tiger species. According to World Wildlife Fund, some 450 Siberian tigers are left on the planet, mainly in Russia’s Far East.