Day of Tiger festival in Vladivostok

The traditional Day of Tiger festival began in Vladivostok (Maritime Territory, Russian Far East) with a carnival show on Saturday. This year's festival of the Amur tiger is attended by a delegation of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).

Taking part in the festival are Maria Vorontsova, head of the IFAW Russian office, Vivek Menon, the world famous expert on Bengal tigers and the founder and head of the Wildlife Trust India, and Birgit Sloth, Danish expert of the CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

The program of the festival includes, in addition to the carnival show, also a concert of stories, verse, songs and quizzes about the Amur tiger, which is the most respected animal in the Far East and is depicted on the emblem of Vladivostok.

The IFAW and WWF have provided funds for a project of preservation of the Amur tiger, which is on the International Red Data Book, in the Maritime Territory. Other IFAW-financed projects include the restoration of the population of the Far Eastern leopard, the salvation of bear cubs and their return to wild life, and the preservation of the Sakhalin population of gray whales.