The protection zone for Siberian tigers in northeast China’s Jilin Province will be expanded, according to a local government ecological protection plan.

Nine new protection zones covering an area of 390,000 hectares will be established in the province, say officials. By 2020, an 800,000-hectare habitat for tigers and leopards will be created, with a capacity for more than 30 fertile tigers and over 50 fertile leopards. By 2025, the habitat is expected to reach 2 million hectares.

The regional plan is in line with the Chinese government’s 13th Five-Year Plan, which aims to strengthen management of the country’s nature reserves.

Siberian tigers almost went extinct in China in the 1950s. But the animal has been spotted in recent years thanks to long-term efforts to improve the environment.

According to research jointly conducted by experts from China, Russia and the US, only six to nine Siberian tigers were spotted in Jilin in 1998. But the number increased to 27 in 2015, according to a joint survey by Beijing Normal University and the local forestry department.

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