Poachers Kill Amur Tiger

Poachers killed an Amur tiger, the rarest animal on the planet, in the Far-Eastern taiga, Vladimir Boltrushko, the acting chief of the Khabarovsk department of natural resources and environmental protection of the Russian Natural Resources Ministry, said on Friday.

The dead animal was found by hunters in the south of the Khabarovsk territory. Experts investigated the neighbourhood, questioned the local residents and hunters and examined the tiger's remains. It turned out that the tiger was poisoned by barium fluoride acetate.

According to the experts, it was done for the illegal sale to Chinese businessmen of tigers' bones and other organs, which are highly valued in oriental medicine. However, ecologists believe that medicines, made of a poisoned animal, are dangerous for people's health.

According to the official data, there are 60-70 Amur tigers in the south of the Khabarovsk territory and some more tigers in the Maritime territory.