News Archive

(June 30, 2011)   -    On June 8-10th a three-day training workshop on the MIST program took place at Sikhote-Alin State Nature Biosphere Reserve in Primorsky Krai (Russian Far East), to train inspectors in the use of the latest techniques in wildlife protection. The training forms part of a collaboration between four State Nature Reserves/National Parks containing important tiger habitat - Lazovsky, Kedrovaya Pad, Sikhote-Alin and Zov Tigra - the WCS,  USAID, Phoenix Fund and Zoological Society o...

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(June 07, 2011)   -   The use of digital Panthera camera traps, new to us this year, has opened new possibilities for our work studying tigers and leopards in SW Primorye. Since using these new cameras we have documented tiger and leopard cubs, and recorded the continued survival of a known leopard. Furthermore, with sensitive motion detectors and fast camera speeds we have fantastic photos of a variety of fast-moving animals rarely captured before; such as the Siberian weasel, Far-Eastern wildcat, Manchurian hare...

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(March 28, 2011)   -   WCS’s Far Eastern leopard project has documented what is likely the newest addition to the highly endangered population of Far Eastern leopards inhabiting Southwest Primorsky Krai: a small leopard cub, thought to have been born at the end of December. Using digital Panthera camera traps, in February WCS specialists obtained a photograph of the two-month old and its mother leaving and re-entering a cave, where the cub would have spent its early days protected from the harsh winter weather ...

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(March 28, 2011)   -   Since 2002 WCS has been using camera trap monitoring in an attempt to understand the dynamics of the world’s last remaining Far Eastern leopards, which are hanging on only in Southwest Primorye, a sliver of land on the Russian-Chinese border. Just as interesting as what is happening to the leopard population in this region, however, is another question – What is going on with tigers??

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(February 27, 2011)   -   The Year of the Tiger – 2010 – was far from the most fortunate for Siberian tigers, at least for some. Within the first 5 months of the year, the Siberian Tiger Project lost 3 of our collared individuals, and then at the end of May, we tragically lost the last one – the tigress Galya. This death shocked the Project’s entire team – all these events were too sudden and unexpected. We had followed Galya for 9 years, practically from birth. Collecting information about ...

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(February 21, 2011)   -    On a cold but bright and sunny day on 28th of January, tracks left in the snow by a female leopard lead us to the bottom of a steep slope and a clump of deer hair. We looked above us and saw a drag-line up the slope, the leopard had evidently pulled the deer kill up the rock-face. As we ungracefully scrambled up the snow-covered slope, grappling hold every tree to pull ourselves up, we admired the strength of the leopard required to pull a dead weight of at least 45 kg. After twenty m...

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(October 24, 2010)   -    With only 25-30 Far Eastern leopards left in the wild, it is a rare treat to capture two leopards in one photo (see left). As our automated camera traps use 35mm film, the quality of this photo is far from perfect, but it looks like a mother and her one-year old cub.  If so, this is proof that the Far Eastern leopard population is reproducing in our study area. Evidence from our eight-year camera trapping survey in the region, moreover, demonstrates that the leopard populati...

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(October 15, 2010)   -   From March through May 2010 WCS conducted a survey of tigers using camera trapping in Khabarovsk Province of the Russian Far East in a portion of the Khor River Basin -- the one of 16 monitoring units where annual assessments of trends in the population of Amur tigers, their prey and their habitat have been ongoing since 1997. The goal is developing statistically robust methods for assessing the Amur tiger population. Currently, tiger numbers in Russia are estimated through winter surveys of t...

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(July 12, 2010)   -   On June 1, 2010, at approximately 7:45 am, “Galia,” the last study animal of the Siberian Tiger Project, was shot within the village of Terney because of the dangers she posed to local citizens. For the many people who knew of Galia, who had been monitored by the Siberian Tiger Project for the past 10 years, this will come as a shock. This death marks the fourth radio-collared animal to die in the past 10 months either of natural causes, or due to conflict with humans. Pres...

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(June 17, 2010)   -   The threats to the survival of the world’s last 30 Far Eastern leopards are unfortunately numerous. Leopards and their prey fall victim to poachers, the leopard’s habitat is under pressure from logging and development projects and – as if this isn’t enough – the animals are slowly losing their home due to frequent fires… In response, WCS and the Slavyanka Municipality are conducting an exciting project that could become a turning point in the fight against fi...

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