There could soon be another reserve

"With no evidence of breeding females, and only a handful of scattered individuals, it was clear that the only thing preventing extirpation of tigers in northeast China was the existence of a healthy population in Russia."

Russia has promised to work with China on all efforts to protect leopards by coordinating cross-boundary conservation work.

A recent workshop in Vladivostok agreed to set up a leopard steering committee, which will bring together scientists, government and non-government bodies from Russia, China and North Korea.

The habitat available to both species is shrinking as human numbers grow, and both face similar threats. Tigers that migrate to China often find few prey species and turn to livestock, which leads to conflict with local people.

Protecting prey

The society is working to create a fund to compensate farmers for livestock losses caused by tigers.

It says protecting wild prey, and removing the snares that are set for deer but sometimes kill tigers as well, will be critical parts of the animals' recovery.

It will help to establish and manage the new reserve. China is considering declaring another reserve, in the Wandashan mountains of Heilongjiang province.

Xioachen Yu, a Heilongjiang Wildlife Institute biologist, said: "We have tigers here. If we protect them, I know we can recover the population."