The Siberian Tigers

Siberian Tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) have been around for centuries, It is estimated the wild population of Siberian tigers at around 350-450 tigers with more in captivity. Almost all wild Siberian tigers live the Southeast corner of Russia in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range east of the Amur River. Their former range included northeastern China, the Korean Peninsula, and as far west as Mongolia. They are considered endangered as a result of poaching and habitat loss from intensive logging and development. Currently there are many organizations in place to help protect the Siberian Tiger population in Russia. There have been many problems with conserving this species including, lack of funding, lack of rangers and anti poaching officers, as well as lack of government involvement. As of 2005 there are currently 8 anti- poaching teams operating in Russia. Before this Russia lacked officers, and those on duty were often subject to bribes, and sometimes were poachers themselves due to low pay. There were also fines in place for poaching tigers, but those who did not pay it were not sent to prison. In 2013 the Russian poaching law was made stricter, including a fine and jail time. Achieving habitat protection is very hard in Russia, there isn’t enough money to develop certain parts of the tiger program, and forest protection. Overall the current protection of Tigers has kept the population stable, but more must be done in order to restore the population. Certain conservation efforts in Russia are shown to be somewhat successful by data, but with new plans and efforts the population can be successfully restored.

Data shows the downward trend in tiger population is a result of habitat loss and poaching. The wildlife conservation society has been active in the Russian far east since 1992. It has been working to conserve landscape species since the launch of this program the amount of tigers killed each year has declined or remained somewhat constant, and are far less than previous years. There were 121 cases in 1990, 95 in 1994, 52 in 1996, 39 in 1998, 52 in 2000, and 46 in 2002. This trend of data showed an overall decrease of the amount of tigers killed each year since the agency had been in effect. Data has also shows that Intense logging and deforestation is a rising contributor to the death of Tigers each year. Territorial dispute deaths often occur from this because of the solitary nature of tigers, they will collide and fight for space. In 2013 there were 13 territorial deaths, 16 in 2012, 13 in 2013, and 21 in 2014 showing that deforestation is a rising issue. The conservation forest efforts showed by this data are not very successful and need the