The Laoyeling National Nature Reserve bordering on Russia in the Heilongjiang province of northeastern China is an important migration corridor for Amur tigers. The reserve borders on and actively cooperates with Russia’s Land of the Leopard National Park. Chinese and Russian partners meet annually to share expertise and methods of preserving the rare cats’ population. The Chinese nature reserve was recently included in a programme to build a 1.5-million-hectare national park in the Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces, bordering on Land of the Leopard.

In 2016, the camera traps (over 300 of them) in the Chinese nature reserve have captured tiger images five times and leopard images 17 times. The data suggests four tigers and seven leopards are currently living on its territory.

Ren Shanqing, deputy chief of the reserve’s administration, said that alongside promoting the Amur tigers’ conservation, it is time to teach people how to behave when they come across the predator.

“For example, when you encounter a tiger, you shouldn’t immediately turn away and run, but instead you should slowly walk away backwards,” he said.

After the authorities in the Heilongjiang province banned tree cutting in 2014, the situation with the big striped cats’ population substantially improved. Energetic anti-poaching efforts are also being made: about 1,000 hunters’ traps have been confiscated in the past few years. As a result, the local biodiversity is being restored, and camera traps have been recording more images of boars, roe deer and sika deer, which makes the reserve an attractive territory for the rare predators.