Wildlife Alliance

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the opening of Russia’s borders, the illegal trade in wildlife, particularly in Amur tigers and Amur leopards, intensified, drastically reducing the number of tigers and leopards in the wild. In response to a gradual disappearance of big cats from Russia’s taiga and forests, Russian conservationists and members of the Global Survival Network, later Wildlife Alliance, established Phoenix Fund in 1998 to strengthen law enforcement and support community-based conservation initiatives aimed at stopping rampant poaching, ending the illegal wildlife trade and slowing rapid habitat loss.

An Amur leopard

Since then Phoenix Fund has cooperated closely with foreign environmental organizations and developed partnerships with local authorities, environmental NGOs, scientists, educational institutions, and the public, becoming one of the leading NGOs in Primorye. Phoenix’s environmental conservation efforts gained international recognition when the director of Phoenix Fund, Sergei Bereznuk, won the prestigious Whitley Award in 2006 for his campaign to save Amur leopards from a natural gas pipeline that would have cut through the last population of these critically endangered big cats in the wild.

Working with law enforcement officials and environmental investigative teams, Phoenix Fund patrols and protects tiger and leopard habitat, resolves and prevents conflicts between humans and wildlife, and compensates farmers for loss of livestock from predators. In addition, Phoenix maintains a constant presence in schools, communities, eco-centers and in the media in order to raise awareness about wildlife conservation issues and change community perceptions and behavior toward Amur tigers, Amur leopards and other wildlife.

Phoenix Fund anti-poaching patrol, 2007.

In 2007, Phoenix Fund enhanced its anti-poaching activities and continued its support of several anti-poaching teams, including the Khasan team, which has carried out patrols in the Khasan district since its establishment in 1998.

Khasan district is located in the central part of the Amur leopard range, and the Khasan team cooperates with local police, border guards and volunteers to patrol the range, set up roadblocks and search cars. The team also participates in environmental education activities and has given several lectures to children at secondary schools in the region.

Like the Khasan team, the “Red Wolf” team, launched in January 2002, prevents illegal hunting by patrolling the perimeter and interior of the Borisovskoye Plateau Wildlife Refuge, one of the last remaining tracts of Amur leopard habitat. Traveling by snowmobile, Russian jeep and horse, the team conducted 68 anti-poaching patrols, recorded 85 hunting violations, extinguished two forest fires, and initiated six criminal procedures in 2007.

Little Lapka, one of many rescued tiger cubs.

Last year the anti-poaching teams rescued several orphaned tiger cubs, their mothers presumably killed by poachers. As a result, Phoenix Fund is helping support the Utyos rehabilitation center to treat and care for rescued animals. The center would provide a home for orphaned tiger cubs like Lyuti, or “Ferocious,” who was found by local hunters when he was one year old after his mom had been killed. After receiving medical treatment and having fully recovered from his injuries, Lyuti will celebrate his 15th birthday at the center this year.

As always, Phoenix Fund continues its environmental education initiatives for educators, schoolchildren and community members, promoting ecological education and outreach in the region. Phoenix supports learning centers like the Pervotsvet ecological center in the city of Luchegorsk, where children produce short TV programs and write news stories on ecological issues.

Tiger Day Festival, 2007

In September 2007, Phoenix celebrated the 8th anniversary of the Tiger Day Festival in multiple cities, including Vladivostok, and celebrated the 5th anniversary of the Leopard Land Festival.

While the preservation of Amur Tigers, Amur leopards and other wildlife still faces many challenges, there are signs that public and government sentiment toward wildlife are changing. Recently, the Russian government agreed to the creation of “Udege Legend” National Park, which will protect 88,600 hectares of taiga and forest, prime habitat for Amur tigers and other wildlife. The government also established the Zov tigra, or “Tiger’s Call” National Park, the first protected area of its kind in the Russian Far East. The 200,000 acre park will play a vital role in Amur tiger protection, as well as create regional jobs and promote nature-based tourism. At the present time, Phoenix is raising funds to support anti-poaching and environmental education activities in Udege Legend National Park.

Wildlife Alliance congratulates Phoenix Fund for a decade of hard work protecting big cats and wild habitat, and with continued support from donors and partners like Wildlife Alliance, Phoenix Fund will continue to work toward the preservation of wildlife now and for future generations.

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