A Walk Through the Snow - YTS Day 4

(posted by Devanshu and Anusha)

Hello, Hi and Namaste.

While yesterday began with me and my roommate nearly missing the bus as we had slept in, today began with the two of us being the first ones at the dining hall. And for the first time in my life I walked below a night sky to reach a dining hall for breakfast!

Today was our day at the Kedrovaya Pad state nature reserve, which is located two and a half hours away from Vladivostok.

Once there, we into two groups. While group 1 went on an ecological trail, group 2 went on a tour of the WWF visitors' center at the Barbash village, at the fringe of the reserve. Following the completion of their activities, the two groups swapped their tasks.

Anusha went with group 1, while I stayed with group 2.

The WWF visitors' centre is the centre from where all of WWF's initiatives in the vicinity are conducted. Once there we were met by Anatoly Belov, the centre's director and recipient of the 2010 Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Medal. He showed us a 10 minute video extract from a movie- Save the Leopards made Anatoly Petrov which is about leopards in Russia.

He explained to us the problems that the reserve faces and also about the proposed expansion of the reserve into a wildlife sanctuary.

An the snow angel

The major threat faced by animals in the reserve is the highway which passes through the reserve. This is in the process of being converted into a tunneled road, so as to eliminate the danger of losing tigers to accidents with vehicles that come at very high speeds. Due to this fragmentation, the leopards are also at risk of inbreeding depression (where closely related individuals interbreed), hence reducing their genetic diversity. The leopard also risks the constant threat of losing out to its bigger feline brother, the Tiger, as they are both competing for the same prey base. An army base in the heart of the reserve places the animals in constant danger from army maneuvers which utilise live ammunition for their exercises, and also from poaching by the soldiers from time to time for meat and skin.

Being located on the Russian - Chinese border exposes the reserve to Chinese poachers who crossover to hunt both the tiger and its prey, as such an offense in China holds the death penalty.

However, in spite of such problems, the reserve supports a large number of deer, wild boar, bears, and other wildlife, along with a healthy population of 8 to 10 Amur Tigers and a stable population of 40 Leopards.

Leopard pug mark

We went on numerous jungle trails through the Russian forest absorbing the knowledge that was being imparted to us by our two guides Sergey Khokhryakov, who is the reserve's director, and Anatoly Belov.


On the Ecological trail

Our last trail was that used by the scientists during their annual census of the Amur Tiger and the other wildlife in the reserve, with our guides explaining to us the process by which the census is conducted.

On the monitoring trail

We were then told about the forest ranger activities in Russia, their importance, and the need to involve fresh blood in the ranger forces- that is, the youth.


With the rangers of Kedrovaya Pad

Young, enthusiastic rangers need to be brought in

A lot needs to be done not only to save the Tiger and its ecosystem Kedrovaya Pad, but also in the numerous other ecosystems that Tigers inhabit in the 13 tiger range countries. Very little can be achieved without the will of those in the position to make decisions and change the ground situation in the reserves and other tiger habitats.

And so, keeping this in mind, the Russian Government has initiated the Global Tiger Summit which began at St. Petersberg today, bringing the heads of governments of the 13 Tiger range countries together. The aim of this Summit is to chart a global strategy to conserve the Tiger across habitats and stem the rapid decline in its numbers, while fighting the organised wildlife crime and trade,and resulting in greater cross-border cooperation between the nations. Tiger habitats know no borders and neither do the Tigers, roaming freely through their territory regardless of passports.

However, fears have begun to emerge, with numerous heads of governments choosing not to participate. In addition, the draft text of the summit declaration and its discussion agenda fail to address the use of Tiger parts, including its bones in traditional Chinese medicine. It also does not address the rapid increase in Tiger farming across the world, where Tigers are bred for the purpose of research, but are instead used to meet the demands of the lucrative tiger trade, hence undermining anti-poaching and tiger conservation efforts across the world.

Such efforts are commendable, but until we address the core problems of the Tiger trade and habitat change- especially its demand in traditional medicine and for skin; forest fragmentation, and other such problems that oppose our conservation efforts, we cannot conserve the biggest of the big cats- the Tiger.


Maple leaf