Russia to participate in int'l tourism fair in Cuba.

HAVANA, May 3 (Itar-Tass) -- The 30th international tourism fair
FITCUBA-2010, at which Russia will be an honorable guest, will open here
on Monday evening local time (on Tuesday morning Moscow time). Deputy
chief of the Federal Tourism Agency Alexander Radkov will head the Russian
delegation, which included representatives of major tour operators and
hotels.
Granting a status of honorable guest to Russia is mainly caused by the
fact that Cuban resorts have been becoming more and more popular among
Russian tourists in the past few years. About 8.7 thousand tourists from
Russia visited the Island of Freedom just in January-February 2010 that is
12% higher than for the same period in 2009.
The fair will be held at the Havana historical and cultural center
Morro Cabana from May 3 to 8. At the fair Cuba will dwell on the prospects
for tourism development in eastern Cuba - in provinces Camaguey, Las
Tunas, Granma, Holguin, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo. A sightseeing
tour of these provinces will be arranged for representatives of foreign
tourist companies and media outlets.
Tourism is considered among the major sources of currency revenues for
the Caribbean republic. Canada is leading in the number of holidaymakers
in the country. Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany and France are
following Canada in this indicator. Some 2.43 million people visited the
Island of Freedom in the previous year that is 3.5% higher than a year
before. Meanwhile, the revenues from this sector of economy went down 11%.

.Putin releases leopardess from cage to house in Sochi nature park.

KRASNAYA POLYANA (the Sochi highland resort), May 3 (Itar-Tass) --
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin released from a cage to a house one
of two leopardesses brought from Iran to the Sochi National Park on Sunday.
According to ecologists, both female specimen of this rare species of
animals, which have not been given names yet, "will participate in a
program to restore the leopard population in the North Caucasus."
Just one leopardess was released in the house, as the second one fell
ill and is under quarantine now. Putin visited the sick leopardess, as
well as a leopard, which he released to the houses in the Sochi National
Park in September 2009.
A employee of the national park told the premier that the wild
animals, which are still being kept in separate houses, will get
acquainted gradually getting in touch through the fence.
The program to revive the leopard population in the North Caucasus has
been implemented in Sochi since 2009. A breeding nursery was built in the
Sochi National Park especially for two West Asian leopards brought from
Turkmenistan. They passed the adaptation well and were waiting for
"fiancees", which had to be brought from Iran.
In April 2010 Russia presented to the Islamic Republic two Amur tigers
from the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Novosibirsk zoos, as a gift of courtesy
Iran presented to Russia two West Asian leopardesses, which were caught in
their habitat. One leopardess is three years old, the other one is just
eight months old. This species of cats was almost exterminated in the
North Caucasus at the beginning of the previous century and put on the Red
Book of Russia.
When leopards give offspring in the Sochi breeding nursery, the
zoologists are going to release the wild cats in the Caucasus biosphere
reserve.
Specialists also hope that a biosphere range, which is to be created
on the territory of the Tebedra and Caucasian Natural Reserves, will help
to restore the population of West Asian leopard in the North Caucasus.
This biosphere range will be the largest in Europe, Academician of the
Russian Academy of Natural Sciences Anatoly Kudaktin told Itar-Tass.
Under the program the Teberda Natural Reserve in Karachai-Cherkessia
will be expanded to the boundaries of the Caucasian National Biosphere
Reserve. A new zone will be granted the status of biosphere reserve and
will influence positively the implementation of the program to restore the
leopard population. "It is very important for the breeding of leopards, as
a biosphere range will merge two highly protected national parks. These
predators were seen in this region in 1968, 1986 and 1996," Kudaktin added.
The Teberda Natural Reserve will be expanded by 28,000 hectares
merging with the neighboring Zelenchuk and Urup regions of the Russian
Republic of Karachai-Cherkessia. Scientists believe that the biosphere
range will contribute to the preservation of biological and landscape
variety in the region. "The Ritsa National Park and the Kodori National
Park under restoration in Abkhazia border with the natural corridor, which
two Russian natural reserves are forming," Kudatkin noted.
The boundaries of the biosphere range will lie along the Greater
Caucasus Range from the western border of the Teberda Natural Reserve to
the eastern border of the Caucasian Natural Reserve. The northern part of
the biosphere reserve will mainly make up steeply high mountains and some
medium-high mountains, which can turn into a habitat for leopards.
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