Closing roads to save tigers

Date: July 27, 2015

Source: Wildlife Conservation Society

A logging company, working with local authorities and WCS, has agreed to begin dismantling abandoned logging roads currently being used by poachers to access prime Amur (Siberian) tiger habitat in the Russian Far East.

The agreement was made by the Terney County Forest Service, WCS, and the largest logging company in the region, TerneyLes. The roads will be made impassable through a combination of bridge removals, trenches, and bulldozing bottlenecks such as where a road runs between a river and cliff.

Continued ...

Captive Amur Leopards to be released into the Russian Far East

A plan to reintroduce captive Amur Leopards into the Russian Far East has been formally approved by Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has announced

The site for the reintroduction has been agreed as Lazovsky Zapovednik (State Nature Reserve) in the South-Eastern-most tip of Russia.

The Critically Endangered Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) is probably the only large cat for which a reintroduction programme using zoo stock is considered a necessary conservation action.

There are currently estimated to be between 50-70 left in the wild, in a small pocket of Russia between Vladivostok and the Sino-Russian border. Around 220 Amur leopards are currently in zoos throughout Europe, Russia, North America and Japan, as part of a global conservation breeding programme jointly coordinated by ZSL and Moscow Zoo.

Continued ...

Mystery sea creature with 'fur and beak' washes up on remote beach

14:05, 30 JUNE 2015

BY WILL STEWART

Marine biologists have been puzzled by the creature, with pictures causing a sensation on Russian social media

A mystery sea creature with a "beak" like a bird and fur on its tail has reportedly washed up on a beach, baffling marine experts.

The remains of the giant beast have been found in the Russian Far East on the shoreline of Sakhalin Island, a place closer to the United States than Moscow.

With a bloodied carcass ripped apart and bones showing, scientists have yet to identify the strange prehistoric-like "mutant", which has similarities to a dolphin but is twice as large as a human.

Read more ...