Siberian Tigers are majestic creatures. The world's largest felines, they average about 11 feet (3+ meters) in length. They are also endangered. There used to be 8 tiger subspecies, but 3 became extinct during the 20th century and the remaining five are still continually threatened by poaching/hunting and habitat loss.
Conservation programs are in place, including a State Council notice in China declaring the use of tiger bone for medicine illegal. But the use of tiger bones for Chinese Medicine and poaching for tiger fur is lucrative enough -- a tiger can fetch up to $50K in the international market -- that the practice continues. Research has also shown that tigers, particularly the Siberian, requires vast forests to thrive. Logging and its rapacious ventures into virgin land, creates a vicious cycle by flushing tigers out and giving poachers easier access to their prey through newly created logging roads.
WWF, in partnership with Russian authorities and other NGOs, is helping establish an ecological network of protected areas (Econet) to secure well-connected habitat for the Siberian Tiger, funds anti-poaching patrols in the Russian Far East and supports an ungulate recovery programme. They are concentrating on habitat conservation where the tigers have the best chance of surviving and breeding. WWF has set a bold goal of doubling the number of tigers in the wild by 2022. Last year, Russia convened a tiger summit of world leaders from 13 countries where the tiger still live, and a unanimous commitment was pledged to help save the species from extinction.
http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/tigers/ways-to-help.html
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