A programme of concerts, quizzes, story-telling and other events targetted at families has been laid on to celebrate the beast that is widely respected in Russia's Far East and features in the city's emblem.

Animal protection groups such as the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, are attending the event which is being marked throughout the region to which the Amur tiger, listed in the world's Red Data Book of endangered species, is indigenous.

Among the specialists present is Vivek Menon, an expert on Bengal tigers and the founder and head of the Wildlife Trust India.

"The idea of honouring the Amur tiger emerged four years ago when it was incorporated into the city's emblem. Then last year we decided to organise a special day to bring attention to the dangers faced by the Amur tiger and other wild animals," said Sergei Bereznyuk, head of the Fenix Ecological Foundation.

The Day of the Tiger is being observed in all towns and cities of Russia's Far East including Khabarovsk, where ecologists from Russia, the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and 19 other countries held a conference on ways of preserving the Amur tiger.

The conference that opened Thursday discussed poaching and the illegal trade in parts of tigers' bodies as well as ways of restoring the population of hooved animals in the Amur tiger's habitat.

In the huge forests of the Khabarovsk region, as a result of poaching and starvation, the tiger population has dwindled to between 50 and 60.

However thanks to international efforts, the Amur tiger population as a whole has recently risen to around 450 specimens.

Experts believe that at least 700 are needed to ensure the survival of this rare beast.

Zoos throughout Russia have also been asked to mark the event.

The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) has invested about 3.5 million dollars in Russia over the past 10 years, including the creation of nine ecological teams specializing in the protection of Amur tigers, a WWF official told the ITAR-TASS news agency.

Another initiative is the funding of existing wildlife reserves and the creation of new ones in the Russian Far East.

IFAW-financed projects include the restoration of the population of the Far Eastern leopard, efforts to encourage the birth of bear cubs and their return to the wild, and the preservation of the Sakhalin population of grey whales.

TERRA.WIRE