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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Siberian Tiger/Forests Report

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

2/4/96

OVERVIEW & SOURCE

Following is a press release from the Investigative Network which

details a new report's finding that the Siberian Tiger is making

somewhat of a comeback, largely due to increased environmental

protection enforcement. They conclude that tenative steps forward

must be consolidated through official designation of a tiger

sanctuary. This item was posted in econet's env.siberia

conference.

g.b.

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/* Written 5:38 PM Jan 29, 1996 by perc in igc:env.siberia */

/* ---------- "PRESS RELEASE - Siberian Tiger/Fore" ---------- */

From: Pacific Environment and Resources Center <perc@igc.apc.org>

Subject: PRESS RELEASE - Siberian Tiger/Forests Report

I am forwarding this press release from the Investigative Network.

Please email responses to Heena Patel at Investigative Network,

hpatel@igc.apc.org

Thanks

** PRESS RELEASE * PRESS RELEASE * PRESS RELEASE **

January 30, 1996

LEADERS OF U.S.-RUSSIAN SUMMIT AND UN ENVIRONMENTAL BODY

CHALLENGED BY ENVIRONMENTALISTS TO SAVE WORLD'S LARGEST FOREST AND

SIBERIAN TIGER

NEW REPORT DESCRIBES WILDLIFE WAR BETWEEN MAFIA AND

ENVIRONMENTALISTS IN RUSSIAN FAR EAST

A new investigative report on organized wildlife crime in Russia

is being presented to the U.S.-Russian "Gore-Chernomyrdin"

Commission this week in Washington, D.C., as well as the United

Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species

(CITES) in Geneva. The report describes how the critically

endangered Siberian tiger -- predicted for extinction by

international experts only two years ago -- is making an

unexpected come-back. This temporary reprieve is due to new

environmental enforcement and rural community programs in the

Russian Far East, according to the report, and could be

consolidated to secure the future of the tiger and the world's

largest intact forest system if a newly proposed "Siberian Tiger

Sanctuary" is created. The Sanctuary, which would also safeguard

the livelihood of rural, indigenous communities, was endorsed last

year by Russia's Prime Minister, Victor Chernomyrdin and the

Russian Ministry of Environment.

"The United States and Russia, together with CITES, have an

historic opportunity to help save the Siberian tiger, one of the

most endangered species in the world; ensure the survival of the

Udege people, a highly threatened indigenous community; and the

Siberian taiga forest, the largest source of oxygen left on the

planet," stated the author of the report, Steven Galster of the

Investigative Network. "We urge CITES and the UN to support the

Sanctuary proposal to preserve the progress that wildlife

officials have made in protecting the magnificent Siberian tiger,"

said Dr. John Grandy of The Humane Society of the United

States/Humane Society International, a sponsor of the report.

The main port of the Russian Far East, Vladivostok, is also home

to some of Russia's most powerful mafia organizations, which

tightly control aspects of the illegal wildlife and timber trade.

Between 1990-1994, Russia experienced one of the worst outbreaks

of commercial poaching and logging in history, resulting in a

serious decline in wildlife populations and forest cover. A

growing population of 400 Siberian tigers in 1989 was reduced to

150-180 by 1994-95. The report attributes this decline to illegal

hunting and smuggling operations of criminal syndicates operating

between Russia and at least 7 other countries, including China,

South Korea, Japan, Turkey, and the United States.

New roads, created by logging operations, have facilitated the

poaching. Tiger bones, bear gallbladders, musk deer glands and

other lucrative wildlife parts pass through these channels,

constituting an estimated $10 million dollars worth of contraband

every year, the report says. The full skeleton and skin of a

Siberian tiger can be sold for up to $50,000 in some cities across

the world.

The report, which was also sponsored by the UK-based David

Shepherd Conservation Foundation, describes how:

* poaching of the Siberian tiger has declined 75% over the past

17 months, due to activities of new anti-poaching patrols in

Primorsky Territory;

* anti-poaching patrols are being threatened by the Russian

mafia for exposing underground trade channels for wildlife and

drugs;

* Tiger and other wildlife parts are being smuggled to China,

Korea, Europe, and the United States.

* The Russian Government has appealed to tiger consuming nations,

including the United States and Taiwan, to help finance the

development of the tiger sanctuary.

Twenty-one percent of all remaining standing forests on the planet

are in the Siberian taiga forest. This has attracted timber

companies from the West and Asia whose massive logging operations

have threatened the wildlife and livelihood of rural communities

of Primorsky and Khabarovsky Territories in the Russian Far East.

The proposed sanctuary would halt logging operations in areas

where tigers and other threatened species are found, and in the

traditional hunting grounds of the indigenous Udege people.

According to the new report, while illegal tiger hunting and

smuggling in the Russian Far East are on the decline, the poaching

of bears and other wildlife, such as the critically endangered

Amur leopard, is still a serious problem. Furthermore, poachers

would re-target the tiger if enforcement operations and forest

protection programs are discontinued.

For more information, please contact:

Heena Patel Investigative Network P.O. Box 73214, T Street Station

Washington, D.C. 20009

Tel: 202-332-3639 Fax: 202-387-2590

Email: Heena Patel, hpatel@igc.apc.org

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