Deer released to restore Siberian tiger population

Dozens of deer were released in China's Jilin Province on Monday following a similar project last year, in an attempt to restore the region's Siberian tiger population.

supervised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and local forestry authorities, seven red deer and 30 sika deer were released into the forests of Wangqing County near the Changbai Mountains.

"The project has progressed smoothly since last year with tiger activity in the region growing significantly," said Shi Quanhua, who heads the northeast office of WWF China.

The organization released 22 red deer and 12 sika deer on July 23, 2012, the World Tiger Day, in a bid to complete the food chain of the Siberian tiger, luring them to migrate from Russia's far east to China, according to Fan Zhiyong, who is in charge of a species project of WWF China.

Siberian tigers are among the rarest species in the world. Only about 500 are estimated to live in the wild, most of which inhabit eastern Russia with only about 20 in northeast China.

Regular sightings of the rare felines, however, have been reported in China in recent years, prompting calls to cooperate with Russia on tiger protection and the expansion of nature reserves.