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WWF/IUCN Emergency Fund To Fight Fires Threatening Siberian Tigers

June 4th, 1998

Siberian tiger
(Panthera tigris altaica)

GLAND, Switzerland.-  WWF-World Wide Fund For Nature  and IUCN-The World Conservation Union today announced the first intervention ever of their new Tiger Emergency Fund.  The innovative funding scheme will be used to combat forest fires in the Russian Far East increasingly threatening the survival of the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), the world's largest species of the big cat.

Launched in January 1998 as part of WWF's Year For the Tiger campaign, the WWF/IUCN Tiger Emergency Fund received on May 22 its first request for assistance from managing authorities at the Lazovsky and Sikhote-Alin Zapovedniks (or state nature reserves), in Eastern Russia.   Most of the approximately 425-475 remaining wild Amur (also known as Siberian) tigers live there.

Located alongside the coast of the Sea of Japan, both protected areas are in great need of funds to purchase and repair equipment for putting out fires caused by unusually dry weather conditions that have already destroyed over 2,000 hectares of prime tiger habitat.

"We feel that the emergency that is taking shape in those vital nature reserves of the Russian Far East is serious enough for us to take action immediately," explained Dr. Jean-Pierre d'Huart, Manager of the WWF International Species Unit.  "It is better to move now when the situation has not reached gargantuan proportions than to wait and witness a serious environmental catastrophe."

With a first allocation of around US$20,000, the Tiger Emergency Fund intends to satisfy the urgent need for spare parts and fuel for fire-fighting vehicles, as well as for purchasing fire extinguishing means and protective clothing for the crews working in fire prevention and extinction in both areas.  Some of the funds will also help repair vehicles needed to patrol roads frequently used by tiger poachers.

Mr. Anatoly Astafyev, Director of the Sikhote-Alin Zapovednik, said that the current fires are mostly due to little snow fall during the 1997-1998 winter and uncommonly high temperatures since last February. "According to weather forecasts, the dry weather will continue through mid-summer, and the danger of more fires will be high," he said.

WWF's involvement in Amur tiger conservation began in 1992 and the organization is currently financing a major conservation programme for the conservation of the Amur tiger and its habitat.  The Tiger Emergency Fund initiative was launched to establish a rapid-response mechanism for dealing with events that may significantly increase the already serious threats facing the world's dwindling wild tiger populations.

For more information, please contact Javier Arreaza at tel +41 22 364 9550, or visit the WWF Web Site at www.panda.org