Operation Amba

Operation Amba is the code name of a Russian program for the protection of the Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) before poaching. The conservation program was established in 1993 under the leadership of the Global Survival Network.

Generally

Operation Amba was designed as a strategic defense of the tiger in the Russian Far East and focused on the identification and neutralization of poachers and smugglers.

Small groups of mobile units lived in the Taiga and created a network for the local population. This supported the conservationists and provided important information. The support of the local population and state law enforcement agencies was a key element of the program. The name Operation Amba was borrowed from the language of the Udehe. The Siberian natives designate by the word Amba the tiger.

The operation Amba was very successful. There young tigers were rescued, seized booty and weapons from poachers. With raids illegal operations were disrupted and broken up criminal rings of poachers.

The Operation Amba, it is thanks to them that the Siberian tiger has not completely eradicated the mid-1990s. She helped the stock after years of heavy poaching to be stabilizing. Before the operation Amba an estimated 60 to 70 tigers were killed each year by poachers. They sold parts of the body ( skin, bones, teeth ) on the black market dealer. By 1995, the stock of the Tiger had shrunk dramatically. There were still only 250 to 300 animals. By 2001, the poachers killed only 8 to 10 Tiger per year. The stock rebounded to about 400 to 450 tigers. After a count of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the current number is 480-520 animals. This is not counting the population of a small subspecies from China.