Official caught poaching after deadly chopper crash

A new poaching scandal has hit the ex-head of the Altai Republic who has allegedly been spotted hunting for protected moose in a national park.

Back in 2009, he was part of an ill-fated helicopter hunt that crashed in the Altai mountains.

A group of hunters hired a Mi-171 helicopter to allegedly shoot argali, a type of Altai mountain sheep listed in both the Russian and international red books of endangered species.

In the middle of the hunt the helicopter crashed, killing seven participants and injuring four. The incident provoked a huge public outcry after pictures showing the carcasses of rare mountain sheep were found at the crash site.

Environmentalists demanded strict punishments for the high-ranking poachers, but it turned out to be too difficult to persuade the court to find the “big people” guilty of anything.

The penalty for poaching can reach two years in prison, but as the case technically expired, those involved walked free.

Altai's then-deputy-head lost his job over the poaching allegations. And three years on, it looks like he might be back to his old habits.

http://www.rt.com/news/prime-time/poaching-deadly-crash-altai-255/

Rare sighting of a Pallas' cat in The Altai Republic

The picture was taken on 26 July on a snow leopard expedition to the Kosh Agach region in the Altai Republic run by Biosphere Expeditions (see www.biosphere-expeditions.org/altai)

The following is the extract from the expedition diary from that day.

26 July. Today was the day to fulfil our promise to Ania and Ilja. Before leaving for Karagem, we agreed to do two full day surveys of their favourite environment, the steppe. Andy took two cars along with both scientists, Paul, Mary Lynn, Kim, Albert and Debbie and headed off to Beltir, shortly after breakfast.

Volodya was keen to check for more marmot signs around the waterfall area and Gunter with Lisa volunteered to go along. The raptors, Ilja's main study subject, were not keen to take to the air until the sun came back up but when they did, the team was in for a treat.

Only metres away from both cars, a Saker falcon killed a squirrel and didn't seem to be awfully bothered by everyone watching while eating it. Eagles were plentiful and the team has even managed to spot a rare and endangered black stork, right behind an old brick factory in Beltir. But the biggest highlight and first ever Biosphere sighting came a little bit later, when Kim decided to stop the cars and take a few pictures of Bactrian camels.

Ilja and Nina, being locals, wandered off in the opposite direction and while everyone was photographing camels, they nearly stepped on a Pallas's cat, hiding in a little depression. The sighting was heavily celebrated over the fire - a great opportunity to introduce the team to some local brew Nina bought in Kosh Agash.


http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/pallas-cat.html