Meet Russia's Tiger Guardians
June 11, 2015 - Russia's Vladimir Putin was photographed last year helping conservationists release a tiger into the wild. His photo op was intended to show the world his commitment to saving this endangered species. Only about 500 Siberian tigers remain in eastern Russia and the bordering regions. Habitat loss and poaching threaten the dwindling population, but one group is focused on protecting the tigers. Go behind the scenes as Russian park rangers and conservationists crack down on illegal poaching.
Click here to read more about Russia's tigers.
In the territory of the Russian Far East dwell around 500 tigers.
The fight against poaching is a sort of civil war that is constantly going on and that is linked to both us and to the government.
Me, for example, I am part of the antipoaching working group.
So I carry out a local war with those rascals who are always stealing from the forest.
For example, today we received some information that because of the amount of snow this year, the animals have had a bad winter. They can't move around; it's difficult for them.
So people just get on their snowmobiles and jump off and kill the animals with clubs.
I work in the reserve. We watch and catch poachers as they enter here.
Poachers, of course, are a big problem for the reserve because they come into the forest for the animals. They kill them here.
The number of animals is decreasing, becoming smaller and smaller.
The remaining animals are saved because they are on the reserve.
So that's why poachers come onto the reserve.
The animals there aren't afraid of humans.
At least we can try to fight against them (the poachers).
While there is still snow, it is easier.
We can look for their tracks where they entered the reserve.
Of course, in the summer it is much harder to find them, because there are fewer tracks. It's hard to find them, of course.
OK, so, right here there are no tigers, right?
What factors could be at play?
The first factor, most likely, is someone is cutting down the forest.
Meaning they illegally log there—there is some factor disturbing the peace.
Here there are none of the wild animals that feed a tiger.
And the tiger is, for me, the most important indicator of the state of the environment, including society, because as long as we have tigers in our forests, it means that everything is more or less calm in society.
