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Amur tiger census to begin in Russia on January 31

The inventory will allow Russia to show how Amur tiger conservation strategy is being fulfilled in joint efforts taken by state authorities, public and scientific organizations

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/. A state-taken simultaneous winter census of Amur tiger and Far Eastern leopard will begin in Russia’s Far East on January 31, the press service of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology reported on Wednesday.

"The inventory should help us to obtain data about habitats, capabilities for animal realm development, threats to animals due to human activity, condition of forage supply," the press service quoted Minister of Natural Resources Sergey Donskoy as saying.

The inventory will allow Russia to show how Amur tiger conservation strategy is being fulfilled in joint efforts taken by state authorities, public and scientific organizations. Inventory preliminary results will be summed up by late May 2015, and a final report will be published in October 2015.

According to the latest inventory in 2005, Amur tiger population in Russia’s southern Far East ranged between 423 and 502 predators that make 95% of global population of this subspecies.

The forthcoming census of tiger and leopard will be conducted gradually from the south to the north. Around two thousand will be involved in the animal inventory in southern and central districts of Primorsky Territory with routes of inventory likely stretching at a total 15 thousand kilometers. The inventory is due to begin in northern districts and East Siberia’s Khabarovsk Territory on February 7.

Simultaneous tiger range inventory in Russia is conducted once in ten years, but some more animal censuses may be urgently needed due to drastic changes in habitat conditions or other factors jeopardizing the population. The main difference of the forthcoming census is a broad use of GPS-navigators and trail cameras.