On November 21, 2013, while patrolling the Land of the Leopard National Park (Primorsky krai, Russian Far East), the rangers discovered a dead male Amur tiger. The predator is believed to have been killed by poachers in late-night hunting, taking into account that a gunshot wound was found below its shoulder. A postmortem examination will be performed soon in order to determine the cause of death.
«Despite the fact that in Russia on July 2, 2013 criminal responsibility was imposed for harvest and smuggling highly-valued wildlife and aquatic biological resources, poachers were not scared by those legal amendments and continue to kill protected animals. Thus, in early August, a tiger skin was found in Khabarovsky krai, but we have not heard yet if poachers involved in that crime was caught. Now, one more cruel killing of tiger, symbol of Primorsky krai, occurred near Vladivostok. Poachers seem to mock at the Russian Government’s efforts to protect rare and endangered big cat species. We hope that law enforcement agencies will respond promptly to this case and make every effort to identify and arrest criminals”, says Director of the Phoenix Fund Sergei Bereznuk.
Such tragic news.I hope the perpetrators are brought to justice soon.
This is such tragic news that poachers continue to defy the Government’s efforts to save the Amur tiger and to try and double its numbers by 2022. In view of this disturbing loss of tiger numbers I hope that it might send a ‘wake up’ call to the Government to increase the patrolling of the tigers home range and to come down very hard on poachers of Russia’s precious tiger population.
This is truly another sad day. Poaching will never be stopped as long as the illicit wildlife trade remains a $20 billion per year business controlled by criminal syndicates. Eventually, tigers and other highly prized wildlife will become extinct unless other fall back measures are undertaken very soon.
How somebody who is not russian citizen can join rangers in Land of Leopard national park?
Dear Aleksandar,
You can ask your question directly to the specialists of the Land of the Leopard National Park: [email protected]
we have an identical problem, about red wolf killers in North Caroline now.
I am sorry to hear that poaching is still going on, but I know that your efforts in supporting the anti poaching patrols is making a difference. Please keep up your good work!
Warmest regards,
Barbara
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Poachers are the lowest form of life……