Winners of the We Love Tigers children's painting competition have been awarded in Nakhodka. School students from the entire Primorye Territory took part in the competition organised by the territory's administration in cooperation with the Amur Tiger Centre.

Deputy Director of the Amur Tiger Centre said it was extremely important to hold competitions of that kind for children. "We should be bringing up forest defenders now," he said. "We need to attract as many children as possible to environment protection issues."

The competition results were announced at the 4th All-Russian Congress on Nature Protection. Nine children in three age categories (junior, middle and senior) received diplomas and gifts.

"Our task is to unite the efforts of state authorities and concerned organisations with those of the territory's residents to preserve and increase the Amur tiger population," said Yevgeny Grebennikov, speaker for the Primorye Territory Department for Hunting Supervision.