Populations of Siberian tigers, Amur leopards grow in national park

The number of wild Siberian tigers and Amur leopards in a national park in Northeast China’s Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces has climbed to 50 and 60, respectively, in just four years, shattering predictions that both species would become extinct in China.

Wildlife conservation experts noted that the national park, an internationally recognized approach, will become the main model for wildlife conservation in China, and co- managed national parks with other countries will be a direction to explore.

In 2017, the pilot system of the Northeast

Tiger and Leopard National Park was officially launched in a bid to expand the populations of these two rare animals in China.

Recent data showed that during the pilot period, the forest stock increased by 5.2 percent, at least 10 new wild Siberian tiger cubs and seven Amur leopard cubs were bred, and the survival rate of cubs increased from about 30 percent to 50 percent, Xinhua reported.

Frequent signs of activity of Siberian tigers and Amur leopards monitored in the field in this pilot area in recent years have indicated the positive effect on wildlife conservation, Sun Quanhui, a scientist from World Animal Protection, told the Global Times on Sunday.

From August 2017 to August 2020, 188 wild animals were rescued in the park, including 69 under national protection, the China Central Television reported on Sunday.

The Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park was among the first five national parks.

Sun said that the establishment of national parks provides a proven conservation and management model that can reasonably handle the relationship between ecological protection and resource development and utilization, and it will become a main method in China’s wildlife conservation.

Sun also noted that cooperation between China and Russia will be very important in the conservation of Siberian tigers and Amur leopards, as observers point out that a multinational comanaged national park is likely to be a direction to explore.

50 wild Siberian tigers

60 and Amur leopards live in NE China’s national park after a pioneer program launched in 2017