Armed Environmentalists Take On Siberian Tiger Poachers - BBC

[hatrack]

"The tiger has just been voted man's most popular species, but ironically the tiger's greatest enemy is man. The situation is so serious that a new breed of environmentalist has broken with peaceloving green traditions, and taken-up arms to fight tiger traffickers.

Habitat destruction from forest fires and logging are killing tigers at a terrifying rate, but poachers are an even bigger threat. A tiger can sell for around $1,500 (£800), but broken into body parts, the value can soar to $50,000 (£26,500). Profits are high and the traffickers are armed and dangerous. In response, armed brigades of rangers, former poachers, military veterans of Chechnya, Afghanistan and even the Khmer Rouge, are fighting a new war on behalf of the world's wildlife.

The battle began in Russia in the early 1990s amid the political and economic chaos after the collapse of Communism. The world's biggest cats, commonly called Siberian tigers, but correctly known as Amur tigers, were being slaughtered at a rate of around 70 a year and only a few hundred remained. As Amur tigers teetered on the edge of extinction, an American called Steve Galster, founder of the charity WildAid, arrived offering technical expertise and money.

EDIT

Since the patrols began, tiger numbers have stabilised, but only a few hundred remain and if left unprotected, they are at constant risk from poachers. Inspection Tiger now has half a dozen anti-poaching patrols in the Russian far east, the home of the Amur tiger. This region shares a long border with China - one of the world's biggest markets for tigers."

EDIT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/this_world/4305239.stm

[glitch]

1. These are the true heroes of the world. More information at

http://www.phoenix.vl.ru/zoom/Khabarovsky.htm

[primavera]

2. Drat, I was hoping they were shooting the poachers

It would still be too good for them, but it would be an improvement over letting them go with a token fine, as they seem to be doing.