Fire reaches habitat of endangered Amur tiger in Far East

The number of forest fires in Russia's Far East has reached 142 on Friday, according to the Far East aviation forest protection base control service.

The most complicated situation is around the Tatarsky Strait, where forest fires rage in mountainous areas difficult of access. Forest guards have quenched three fires and localised another five over the past 48 hours, but sixteen new fires have appeared.

Currently, 27 fires are registered in the Khabarovsky Territory, nine of them being major fires. The Botchinsky reserve - the habitat of rare Far Eastern plants and the endangered Amur tiger -has been burning since May 25.

The number of forest fires has also increased, from 18 to 34 - in the Primorsky Territory and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). So far, they do not pose threat to villages in the taiga, according to the control service.