The Russian population of Panthera tigris altaica (most located in Primorye territory, with a smaller population in Khabarovsk) have come under increased poaching pressure in recent years as political and economic change has swept over the region.
The threats to P. t. altaica are the loss of habitat and reduction in numbers of its prey also due to habitat loss. Deliberate poisoning by farmers as they are considered a threat to livestock. Poaching and hunting: often for trading of their skins and bones, blood and other body parts traditionally thought to have medicinal properties. In China, until the mid 1960s, the elimination of tigers was encouraged as they were a threat to agricultural and pastoral progress.
Panthera tigris amur is the largest of the tiger subspecies. One male weighed in at 845 pounds. Its distribution is the Amur river region of Russia and China, and North Korea.
Tigers in Russia in 1994 numbered only 150-200. A comprehensive census in the mid-1980s estimated a minimum of 250 and a maximum of 430 tigers. Panthera tigris altaica is considered as "Critically Endangered" by the IUCN Red List. CITES lists the species as "Appendix 1".