Amur by screwbald on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

This is the Amur Tiger card for the Endangered Ark card deck project ( [link] ).

Siberian (aka Amur/Manchurian/Ussuri) tigers are a rare, critically endangered subspecies of tigers, found only in the Amur region of the far east. Due to illegal deforestation and poaching, the Siberian tiger was at extreme risk of elimination by the 1980s, with fewer than 250 tigers remaining in the wild. Luckily though, due to the effort of the Siberian Tiger Project, founded in 1992, the big cats have seen a steady recovery. The project focused on conservation, working with local governments to set up anti-poaching patrols, reducing clearcut logging and slowing the depletion of the tiger's habitat.

Today, there are an estimated 400 to 500 Siberian tigers in the wild, and their population seems stable. While there is a very successful captive breeding program, there is little to zero chance of reintroducing captive bred tigers back into the wild. This makes it imperative to protect their natural habitat if Siberian tigers are to continue to exist outside of zoos and private collections.