Ministers from 13 countries still inhabited...

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed on Tuesday a resolution to hold the forum in Vladivostok, in the country"s Far East, on September 9-12. Putin was given an Ussuri tiger on his 56th birthday in 2008.

"At today"s meeting... ministers from 13 "tiger" countries adopted a declaration of the first ministerial conference on tiger conservation saying that they approve and appreciate Russia"s invitation to attend a summit on tiger conservation at the level of heads of state in Vladivostok in September 2010," WWF Russia said in a statement.

Environmentalists raised alarm over tiger numbers plummeting to 4,000 from 100,000 over the past century. The destruction of tiger habitats and poaching in densely-populated areas where the animals pose a threat to people has been major reasons for this.

Siberian tigers, also known as Amur tigers, are classed as endangered by the World Conservation Union, with only about 500 tigers left in Russia"s wild. Since 2006, poachers

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