The population of Amur tigers in the Russian Far East has increased by 10 percent over the past decade, Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sergei Donskoi said at a meeting in Vladivostok on the intermediate results of the population count of rare wild cats. He stressed that the results are in line with the targets set by the Amur tiger conservation strategy.

“The strategy was approved in 2010 after the Tiger Summit. Our target is to double the Amur tiger population. And 10 percent is a very good trend. We are moving towards the goal,” Sergei Donskoi said. “The preliminary results indicated that there are between 523 and 540 animals in the Russian Far East.”

Mr Donskoi said the population count will be finalised this fall, around the same time experts are also supposed to prepare proposals on how to increase the Amur tiger population.

“The latest population count will be used to develop measures to further increase the number of tigers and serve generally as a corrective for legislative and other purposes,” the minister added.

Alexei Surovy, Deputy Director of the Primorye Territory Department for Hunting Supervision, noted that the counting of Amur tigers in the region covered a total of 13.6 mln ha of hunting grounds, which is 90 percent of the wooded area in the territory.

“With the exception of federal protected natural areas, 878 routes have been covered and 636 tiger tracks were counted,” he said.

Deputy Governor of the Primorye Territory Sergei Sidorenko added that the project involved over 800 employees.

The head of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment identified poaching the major challenge for the conservation of rare big cats. The most effective solution, he said, is to step up efforts by the hunting supervision service in the entire habitat of the Amur tiger.

“We have identified three ways to increase the Amur tiger population. They are protection, food supply and land resources. In a number of regions, we also prohibited deforestation. All this is required for the tiger to exist and develop normally,” Sergei Donskoi added.

The coordinated population count of the Amur tiger and Far Eastern leopard was carried out in February 2015, covering a total of 150,000 sq km of habitat in the Russian Far East.