Wildlife Alliance

Wildlife Alliance congratulates our partners in Russia, the Phoenix Fund, recipient of a grant from the Zoo Boise Conservation Fund for 2008. Zoo Boise’s grant, via the Zoological Society of London, will staff an anti-poaching team to protect the critically endangered Amur leopard, the most threatened wild cat species on Earth. With fewer than 40 individuals in the wild, the Amur Leopard relies on Phoenix and other dedicated protectors to survive.

With support from the Zoo Boise Conservation Fund, Phoenix Fund and its partners will operate a five-person anti-poaching team, including three members from government law enforcement agencies and two private citizens.  The main goal of the anti-poaching activities is to reduce poaching of leopards and their prey in protected areas and other forest lands.  However, the anti-poaching team also acts against all forms of poaching, as well as the illegal trade in animal parts and medicinal plants such as ginseng, helping to protect the whole forest ecosystem.  In addition, the team operates a compensation program for livestock killed by tigers and leopards.  The aim of this program is to prevent retaliation against leopards and tigers that kill livestock and to increase support for leopard conservation among the local population.

Visitors and friends of Zoo Boise chose grant recipients on the basis of exhibits and video testimonials on the Zoo Boise website. To see the video for the Amur leopard conservation proposal, please click on the video image above.  Phoenix Fund is a member of the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA), a group of Russian and Western conservationists devoted to protecting Russia’s wild cat populations. In partnership with Wildlife Alliance, ALTA, the Zoological Society of London, and many other groups, Phoenix Fund has worked since 1996 to protect Russia’s tiger and leopard populations and to improve ecological awareness in the Russian Far East.