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250km north of Vladivostok, The Russian Academy of Sciences facility is home to the only dedicated Siberian Tiger (Amur Tiger) reservation in the world. Russia's Far East is the last stronghold of Siberian tiger; researchers report that approximately 334-417 adult tigers remain in the region, along with 97-112 cubs.
The tiger has made a unique and remarkable come-back at a time when numbers in all other parts of the tiger's known habitats in Asia are declining. Probably as many as 500 tigers roamed the forests of the Russian Far East at the end of the eighties. In the early nineties a poaching epidemic broke out when the Soviet Union collapsed and the borders with neighbouring Asian countries (where tiger body parts are used in medicines) opened up. At present Siberian tiger numbers in Russia are stable and estimated at close to 450 individuals. This is still the largest unbroken tiger population in the world.
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