Action to take account of Amur tigers, leopards beginning in Russia’s Far East

VLADIVOSTOK, October 5. /TASS/. A million-hectare Far East national park for endangered-species Amur tigers will be completed by the year-end, Natural Resources Minister Sergey Donskoi said on Monday.

"Bikin national park will open over an area of 1.1 million hectares covering the Amur tigers' main habitat," Donskoi said. It will be located along the Bikin river, close to the Chinese border.

A national programme to protect the tigers was adopted in Russia in 2010 after the country hosted a "tiger summit" - an international forum devoted to preserving tigers as a biological species.

President Vladimir Putin signed tougher punishments into law in 2013 for killing and trafficking rare and exotic feline species, including Amur tigers. The Russian Geographical Society set up its Far East Amur Tiger Centre on the head of state's initiative.