A recent survey of Siberian tigers shows that populations of the majestic cat — numbering roughly 500 in the wild in 2005 — may have declined by as much as 40 percent because of increased poaching and habitat loss. The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), working with the Russian
government and conservation organizations, said that a survey of the tigers at 16 sites in a 9,000-square-mile monitoring area showed that the number of the tigers had dropped by 40 percent compared with a 12-year average. The decreased sightings and signs of the cats may be due in part to heavy snows in the Russian Far East, which reduce travel by the tigers. But conservation officials fear that the main reason for the decline is increased poaching and a continuing loss of habitat from logging and development. Numbers of Siberian tigers, the largest cat in the world, have been in decline for four years. WCS officials said they were hopeful that the downward trend could be reversed if the Russian government restores cuts made in enforcement personnel in key tiger areas and widens a network of protected areas in tiger country.