Population of rare animal species growing in Russia - minister

MOSCOW. Jan 19 (Interfax) - The population of nearly extinct species, such as Far Eastern leopard, Amur tiger and bison, has been steadily increasing in Russia, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Alexander Kozlov said.

"We can see that [the population] of species that found themselves on the brink of extinction, such as tiger, leopard and Przewalski's horse in the 2000s, [has been growing]. Take, for instance, Far Eastern leopard. We can see a growth from 40 to 110 specimen. I mean the dynamics has tripled," Kozlov said in an interview with the Pozdnyakov program published on the NTV website on Wednesday.

The Amur tiger population is also growing, Kozlov said. "We counted them just a few years ago: there are 580 specimen. We realize that the current number exceeds 600," he said.

The bison population, which was practically extinct in Russia, mostly, because of poachers, is also on the rise. The current bison population in Russia exceeds 1,300, Kozlov said.

Russian nature reserves are home of 58 mammal species and 118 bird species listed in the Russian Red Book of Endangered and Rare Species, Kozlov said.