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NOVEMBER 2008

PRIME MINISTER PUTIN - A FRIEND OF AMUR TIGERS AND LEOPARDS

This year has seen Prime Minister Vladimir Putin take a personal interest in both Amur tigers and leopards.  In the summer the Prime Minister visited the Russian Far East to see for himself how tiger conservation is progressing.

In October he signed a decree to establish a federal-level wildlife refuge to conserve the Amur leopard population.

(see news page for further details)

According to the decree, "Leopardovy" (Leopard) federal-level wildlife refuge is to be established on the basis of Barsovy and Borisovskoye wildlife refuges, with a total area of 169,429 ha. The area of Kedrovay Pad Nature Reserve is 18,044 ha.  The Ministry of Natural Resources and Primorsky Krai Administration will take all the necessary measures for the creation of the new wildlife refuge and to ensure a protection regime for natural areas within Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve and Leopardovy Wildlife Refuge, i.e. prohibit any human activities that contradict the goals and objectives of the protected areas.

Up to now, Amur leopard habitat included several federal and regional protected areas, namely Kedrovaya Pad Nature Reserve (administered by the Russian Academy of Sciences) and two adjacent wildlife refuges - Barsovy (under the Ministry of Agriculture) and Borisovskoye Plateau (under Primorsky Krai Administration). Incidentally, none of these government agencies were responsible for conservation of rare and endangered species.

This is a truly good news for conservationists and shows that the Russian Government is now active in the protection and fate of this rare and endangered species.