Since January 1998, the Phoenix Fund, Tigris Foundation and International Fund for Animal Welfare have been supporting a mobile anti-poaching team that operates in the Khasan district, Southern Primorye. Since its establishment in 1998 up until 2007 the Khasan team has drawn more than a thousand citations (including over 500 citations for violations of hunting regulations), confiscated more than 400 firearms, 5 skins or other leopard or tiger derivatives, and initiated more than 37 criminal proceedings.
The five-member joint interdepartmental team covers most of the Amur leopard’s range in SW Primorye. The team members patrol on foot, by vehicle, motorcycle, snow mobile, on horseback and by paraplane. The team patrols in the forests and sets up road blocks and searches cars. A patrol dog helps the team to trace poachers when snow is absent and tracks are not visible.
