News Archive

(July 24, 2009)   -   This past winter the village of Terney made international news as the “epicenter” of record snowfalls. Nearly 2 meters of snow fell in a span of three days, paralyzing and isolating Terney and nearby villages for days and weeks. Not surprisingly, the deep snows were catastrophic for many wildlife species as well. Our long-term research project on tigers – The Siberian Tiger Project - is supposed to go on, rain, snow, or shine. But as you can imagine, when se...

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(June 05, 2009)   -   From May 25th through 31st, 2009, Chinese and international specialists gathered in Changchun City (capital of Jilin Province) to plan for a future in northern China that includes tigers. Such a meeting would have seemed absurd 150 years ago, when Siberian tigers were abundant and considered a pest in the forests of northern China – what was then known as Manchuria. (Click on article title to read more.)

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(May 11, 2009)   -   At the end of April WCS staff headed out for a trip to the Chin San Model Hunting Lease, where WCS is providing financial and technical support to help local people achieve a new level of wildlife management. We hope that our work with Chin San will demonstrate that with modest investment, community-based hunting leases can increase ungulate numbers, protect rare species (particularly Amur tigers), and develop economic activities that will provide long-term income.Read our trip report to learn m...

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(April 15, 2009)   -   Dozens of fires are burning throughout Amur tiger and Far Eastern leopard habitat in southwestern Primorsky Krai. Thanks to good snow cover through March, the spring fire season got started later than usual, but is now in full swing, bringing some of the worst fires seen in years, according to local specialists. WCS Russia is working with local government and other stakeholders in order to find a solution to this problem.

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(April 08, 2009)   -   This winter and spring Siberian Tiger Project staff continue to monitor radio-collared tigers in Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve, which allows us to obtain important information about how tigers live. For the past 6 years we have been tracking two eight-year-old tigresses, “Vera” and “Galya,” who live in the southeastern portion of the reserve. Vera and Galya are neighbors: their home ranges are right next to each other. But each tigress knows the other’s territory, and they are respectful of eac...

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(March 31, 2009)   -   "This news update finds us in improving weather conditions, deteriorating road conditions, and the heart of our camera-trapping effort..."Our field crew based in SW Primorsky Krai, Russia, reports on the latest, including camera-trapping work and our findings from snow-tracking of tigers and leopards in the winter of 2008-09. (Click news headline to read more.) 

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(February 18, 2009)   -   The body of a Far Eastern leopard was found on the territory of the Nezhinskoye Hunting Lease in Southwestern Primorsky Krai on February 15. A necropsy was performed on the leopard, a female pregnant with one cub, but results pertaining to cause of death were inconclusive. WCS is working with partners to help ensure needed samples are taken in order to further analyze the situation.

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(February 02, 2009)   -   On the night of January 27, specialists from Primorsky Krai's Wildlife Management Department and the Wildlife Conservation Society responded to a call about an abandoned tiger cub found near a village in southern Primorsky Krai. Dogs had chased the cub into a small space between two heating pipes. The cub was brought to a rehabilitation center in the city of Ussuriisk, where the next day WCS staff immobilized the animal and conducted a medical exam. The tiger turned out to be a female, 3-4 month...

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(January 25, 2009)   -   In early January nearly 2 meters of snow fell in parts of northern Primorsky Krai, posing a significant risk to ungulates, which have difficulty finding food and moving about in such conditions, and also become easy targets for poachers. In order to help relieve the situation, WCS and the Russia Program of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are providing small, emergency grants to wildlife management organizations and nature reserves in northern Primorye, allowing them to undertake activities to help...

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(December 30, 2008)   -   In December of 2008 Siberian Tiger Project specialists concluded the field portion of a nearly 3-year long project to camera-trap the Amur tiger in Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve, Primorsky Krai, Russian Far East. Scientists obtained hundreds of photos of 26 different individual tigers living in the 4,000 sq. km reserve. This project, led by graduate students Svetlana Soutyrina and Meghan Riley, represents the first attempt to use camera-traps to monitor the Amur tiger.

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