On February 25, 2015, a solemn ceremony was held to present the 100,000th Amur Tiger debit card issued as part of the charity project of the Amur Tiger Center and the Agricultural Bank. Thus, already 100 thousand people joined the large-scale federal program aimed at protecting these rare animals.
The owner of the anniversary card was a resident of the Novosibirsk region Tetenkova Lina, who was given a certificate for two for a trip to the capital of Primorsky Krai, Vladivostok, to celebrate Tiger Day in September 2015 and gifts.
The project, launched in July last year, provides Amur Tiger cardholders with a unique opportunity to make a personal contribution to preserving the population of the Far Eastern predator without spending their own money. When paying for purchases on this card, the Agricultural Bank of Russia transfers from its revenues 0.7% of each transaction to the project. Thus, the more participants of the program are calculated by the card, the more significant funds are spent on the protection of the species.
The first funds transferred by the Agricultural Bank under the project are aimed at financing the accounting of the Amur tiger, which takes place every 10 years. In a large-scale event on the territory of tiger habitats of 15 thousand km, more than 2000 people were involved. The results of the survey will allow to assess the current state of the population of a large predator, as well as provide an opportunity to analyze the effectiveness of measures aimed at its protection.
Currently, the support of Amur tigers is one of the priority environmental projects in Russia and is under the patronage of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin. On his initiative in 2013, the Russian Geographical Society established the Amur Tiger Center, which allowed for a detailed study of the status of the population of rare cats, increased efficiency in identifying and suppressing cases of poaching, as well as drawing public attention to the need to preserve and support this species.