MOSCOW – Nature conservation body WWF on Wednesday said key tiger habitats in Russia's Far East were slated for logging in what would be a new blow to the dwindling population of the highly endangered Amur tiger. Next week the local government in Primorsky region is planning to auction off some 28,000 cubic metres (990,000 cubic feet) of forest which includes cedar and oak forest inhabited by the Amur tiger, said Denis Smirnov, head of forest programme at WWF Russia's Amur Branch. "Essentially these are the key habitat areas for the Amur tiger," Smirnov told AFP by phone from the regional capital Vladivostok. Betweeen 400 and 500 tigers remain in the wild in Russia, and a further 20 to 25 live in China. Degradation of the animal's habitat and poaching of the tiger and its prey are blamed for its rapid disappearance.

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