Amur (Siberian) Tiger conservation project

HELPING TO SAVE THE CRITICALLY ENDANGERED AMUR(SIBERIAN) TIGER FROM EXTINCTION THROUGH SUPPORT FORANTI-POACHING PATROLS AND LOCAL EDUCATION INITIATIVES

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, an estimated 50-70 Siberian tigers were being poached each year and, by 1993, the population had crashed to fewer than 100 animals. At the time, experts warned that without drastic action the Amur tiger could be extinct by 2000.

Action (in the form of Inspection Tiger) has been taken and tiger numbers have quadrupled in just over adecade. The reasons for this phenomenal success are fairly clear:

• increased education initiatives and public awareness
• greater involvement of state environmental law enforcement agencies
• increases in prey populations
• compensation programme for farmers suffering from tiger attacks

Inspection Tiger was launched in March 1994 by theRussian government to do survey and research work, establish hunting controls, set up anti-poaching units, run trade investigations and start a region-wide education and awareness programme. Based in Vladivostok, Inspection Tiger once had eight field teams (funded by a variety of different foreign donors including DSWF), although currently only four (with 3-5 men in each) are operational due to ashortage of funding. They regularly patrol in the Amur tiger habitat of Primorye and southern Khabarovsky.

In March 1998, the Phoenix Fund was founded by several Russian and US conservationists primarily to manage fund-raising and to coordinate tiger conservation activities. DSWF now channels its support for Amur tiger conservation through the Phoenix Fund.

GRANTS GIVEN BY DSWF

DSWF has given grants totalling £248,225 for the period 1994-2005. Currently, funding is being spent on:

• anti-poaching patrols (providing salaries and vital equipment such as snowmobiles, radios, jeeps, fuel and rations, paying informants, investigative work, updating the environmental and administrative laws database and a salary for the environmental law enforcement projects coordinator)
• education and awareness programmes (salary for the Phoenix educational projects coordinator, ecological education in northern Primorye, Tiger Festival Days in Vladivostok, Novopokrovka and Luchegorsk, Tiger Eco-Centre in Novopokrovk, education and outreach materials)

Tiger Eco-Centre. The first centre has been established in Novopokrovka, in northern Primorye in a renovated classroom in a 150 pupil school for six and seven year olds. The centre is used by all 16 schools and 2,600 pupils in the district (which has a total population of 22,200 spread over a vast area of 2,063 square kilometres or 12.4% of Primorye). Each school typically has children aged 6-18 years from several far-flung villages and one of them is over 500 kilometres away.

Tiger Outreach Programmes. The Phoenix Trust educator visits all 16 schools in the region to teach the children about tigers and conservation, as well as training schoolteachers to hold their own eco-classes. Phoenix Fund develops reference materials (posters,booklets, CDs, books) and teachers' guides on the endangered wildlife of Primorye. All educational materials are approved by the State Educational Institute. The aim of the outreach programme is to nurture a caring attitude towards wildlife.

Tiger Festival Days. The first of these one-day events was organised in Vladivostok in September2000 and the day has now become a regular event celebrated across the country (including Moscow). The Phoenix Fund itself organises three TigerFestival Days: in Vladivostok, Novopokrovka and Luchegorsk. These are proving very valuable in raising awareness for tiger conservation in both children and adults. They include a parade, music, fancy-dress and art competitions.

Summer Camps. Two-week summer camps are also arranged for schoolchildren and students to teach them about the forest and its endangered wildlife.

The Future. The aim is to have more than one Eco-Centre and to have more Tiger Festival Days in towns and villages throughout the tigers' range.

How You Can Help. The Tiger Eco-Centre and the outreach programme are both in desperate need of books and other educational materials and artistic materials.
Please apply to DSWF for further details.

Click here to visit our Amur (Siberian) Tiger Conservation Project page