NEWSLINK: Land of the Big Cats: China and Russia collaborate in comeback

In 2000, the Amur leopard was hurtling to extinction. There were only about 30 left in Russia, and just two in China.


Today, the picture is more hopeful. Though it remains the world's rarest big cat, there are now close to 90 living across both countries.


Siberian tigers, who have also been roaming the Russia–China border since before those nations existed, have seen a similarly impressive recovery. In the 1940s, there were as few as 40 still alive. Now there are as many as 540.


The remarkable comeback is largely due to shared work between China and Russia, cemented in February when the park administrations on both sides of the border signed a memorandum of understanding for further cooperation.

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