Khabarovsk to organize Amur tiger preservation

Participants in the international ecological conference, over in Khabarovsk (administrative center in Russia's Far East) on Saturday, took a decision to establish standing working groups for preserving the Amur tiger population.

A representative of the conference organizational committee Alexander Kulikov, chairman of the Khabarovsk Public Wildlife Fund, said that such public organizations are for the first time appearing simultaneously on three levels - international, federal and regional. Besides, an agreement was reached to set up standing working groups on the same problem in Russia's Khabarovsk and Maritime territories, where the main groups of the extremely rare animal species live in taiga forests.

The three-day conference considered problems of preservation of the Amur tiger population. Specialists from Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, India, the Netherlands and other countries participated in plenary sessions and section sittings.

Specialists see as one of the main goals the preservation of the habitat and the forage reserve of the rare animal species. They have advised the local authorities to engage in environment-friendly nature management in places where the Amur tiger lives. Conferees have also noted the need of completing laws on the protection of the environment, particularly as regards the tiger.