Wild populations of Siberian tigers appear to be stable in Russia's Far East, according to an international survey released late last week, the first sign that efforts to protect the highly endangered species may be bearing fruit.

The survey by the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups carried out this past winter north of the Pacific port of Vladivostok found preliminary evidence that the overall population was roughly 430-540 the same as in 1996.

At the same time, the survey notes that conservationists have seen tiger numbers drop elsewhere in Asia.

Yekaterina Babina, a spokeswoman for the World Wide Fund of Nature in Moscow, said the population stabilization showed the success of greater funding by conservation groups and government agencies for anti-poaching efforts and education programmes for local residents.

"Ten years ago, among the local population, the tiger was seen as a dangerous animal to be feared," Babina said. "Now they understand that the tiger is their heritage, their wealth... There is a deeper understanding that it's absolutely necessary to protect the tigers," she said.

Natalya Dronova, a program co-ordinator with the WWF, said the tiger population has also been helped by 2.8 million hectares of territory in Primorye and Khabarovsk regions legally designated for environmental protection in the past 10 years.

The project sent nearly 1,000 fieldworkers into the two region's remote, densely forested areas to look for the animals' footprints in the snow. More than 4,100 tracks were recorded, including multiple tracks of individual tigers.

Researchers mapped the locations of the tracks and then estimated the minimum number of tigers that could have produced them. Results suggest that about 334 to 417 adult tigers remain in the region along with 97 to 112 cubs.

The project was funded by Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources and a group of conservation organizations.

The Siberian tiger, also known as the Amur or Ussuri tiger, is one of the world's rarest species. Most live in Russia, while a handful are believed to remain in China.

(China Daily June 21, 2005)