Greetings!
Our day and our experience at the Orlinoe State Hunting Reserve.
My day began (very very reluctantly, after sleeping at 3:30am the previous night) by waking up at 7:15, waking my roommate Dannee up, and going for breakfast. The day was allotted completely to field trips. There were two groups- one would go to the Kedrovaya Pad state Nature Reserve, and the other to the Orlinoe model hunting estate. Once everyone had got into the 2 buses, we in the Orlinoe group realized three people were missing- Devanshu, Duncan of Scotland and Mark of Malaysia. Olga and I half-ran to the building where Devanshu and Duncan were staying, climbed up FIVE flights of stairs, and woke the two beauties up. Then I went back to the bus and waited, while Olga ran around looking for Mark. All three had overslept, claiming “technical difficulties, the alarm didn’t ring!”
Anyway, once they all came, we started off. And almost immediately, everyone on the bus was fast asleep. One and a half hours later, we had reached the hunting estate. We were met and guided around by Mr. Sergey Vobly, director of Orlinoe. Julia of WWF-Russia translated for us. We were shown the feeding station for wild ungulates (tigers’ main prey) and for boars, and the mineral salt licks created to artificially supplement their diet. All this active management is done as it is very difficult for these animals to find food in the cold winter. Their numbers drop, causing a decrease in food availability for tigers as well. To help maintain both numbers, feeding grounds are created for the herbivores, in turn attracting tigers to the same grounds. The feed for the deer and boars is genetically modified to be sufficiently nutritive for them to survive the winter.
Feeding station for the wild boar
Supposed to be salt for deer. However, Lee wished to steal some.
Listening to Julia (in red) translate what Mr. Sergey Vobly had just said
The situation in this Estate is very different from that anywhere in India. In India, hunting of any sort is not allowed, except in rare cases of man-eating tigers. Here, hunters can apply for licenses for a particular type of animal, and are allowed to shoot a pre-determined number by paying a fixed amount. This issuing of licenses is through estate rangers who accompany the hunters on the hunt. Based on surveys (mostly pug mark and hoof-print methods), the number of licenses issued per year for a particular species is determined. This process, Mr. Vobly said, is very strictly controlled. So much so that in the 35 years the estate has been run, no tigers have been reported poached.
Smiling thought.
On a raised viewing platform
After this mini-tour, we had a wonderful lunch at the headquarters of the estate. For us vegetarians, there was soup, fried potatoes, pineapple and cheese, mushrooms, and tomatoes with cheese. After stuffing ourselves, we started on our 3 km walk. We were accompanied by 3 estate rangers and a media people- 4 cameramen and the respective interviewers. We saw mushrooms, were introduced to the taiga’s broad-leaved deciduous tree species, and got to see a 4-day-old tiger kill. The kill was of a wild boar, and though it was 4 days old, the cold had preserved it so well that it didn’t look or smell at all decomposed.
Under-surface of a mushroom
We rested on the way, took lots of photographs, slipped in the slush and had a thoroughly great time.
After getting back to the bus, there was a short filming session, with each participant introducing themselves. We then started back to Hotel Sedanka. Again, most of us slept for the 2 hours it took to get back.
We all had dinner and then sat down to blog and use the internet.
Tomorrow we go to Kedrovaya Pad state nature reserve. The group which went there today told us there was lots of snow. Looking forward to walking through the snow, and experiencing this landscape. Maybe we’ll get lucky enough to see an Amur tiger!
Please post any questions or suggestions you have about tigers and their conservation, or email us. There are people here representing all the remaining tiger-range countries, and we can pass on your queries.Cheers!
This is very interesting stuff, and well written,too.
ReplyDeleteLooks like these Youth Tiger Ambassadors will really equip themselves with a very good understanding of what tiger conservation really entails.
Wishing them the very best for the rest of their trip.