Steppe polecat Mustela (Putorius) eversmanii Lesson, 1827 in the Amur Region

Steppe polecat, Mustela eversmanii Lesson, 1827 is rare throughout most of its European and Russian range. In the Russian Far East, the distribution of this polecat is limited to the southwest of the Zeya-Bureya Plain. This species is listed in the Red Data Book of the Amur Region as an endangered species. Until the 1970th the steppe polecat was a commercial species and had a high population, which then dropped drastically during the intensive development of virgin and fallow lands. Conservation of the Amur population of the steppe polecat requires a complete ban on hunting for small mustelids in the south of the Amur Region as well as restoration of its natural habitats.