The Russian Government has given permission to build what will be the world’s longest pipeline, running 4,130 km (2,565 miles) from central Siberia to the Sea of Japan. The pipeline terminal will be built in Southwest Primorye, a “biodiversity hotspot”, that includes the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve ‘Kedrovaya Pad’. SW Primorye, a narrow sliver of land bordering on North Korea and China, is home to over a quarter of Russia’s endangered species, including the Amur (Siberian) tiger and the world’s rarest cat, the Amur leopard, of which only 30 remain in the wild. The terminal will be built on the Amur Bay near Russia’s only marine reserve. ECOLOGISTS STATE THAT IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO SELECT A SITE THAT WOULD DO MORE DAMAGE TO THE ENVIRONMENT. There are many alternative terminal locations that are much more suitable from the economic, social and ecological points of view. However, the local governor and his administration heavily promoted the selected site on the Amur Bay, presently a pristine coastline, for reasons that are unclear.

Surely this must be one of the most outrageous examples of how money can manipulate political decision making and destroy further areas of this fragile planet! Please go to this webpage to see what you can do.

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Tigris Foundation was established in January 1996, but it took us more than a year to secure our first grant! Our first project, an anti-poaching team, started in January 1998. Fortunately, the team was (and still is) very successful and this gave an impulse to fundraising. Up to date Tigris raised more than $500,000. Approximately $430,000 was spent on Amur leopard projects and $30,000 on projects for the Amur tiger. Almost half of the support was received from zoos. European zoos have provided more than $200,000 and Helsinki Zoo is leading the sponsor list with a total of $75,000! We have received $25,000 in total from North American zoos.

Amur leopard cub at Olomouc Zoo, Czech Republic
(picture by M. Korinek)