- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -

Smugglers are apprehended in Russia

with an Amur tiger skin and
480 bear paws

by

Sergei Bereznuk

Phoenix Fund

Michiel Hötte

(Zoological Society of London / Tigris Foundation / Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance - ALTA)

4 September 2007

August 31, 2007 (Vladivostok, Russia) – Russian border police and Federal Security Bureau have collaborated in the arrest of a band of smugglers attempting to ship 480 bear paws as well as a tiger skin and skeleton and $US 9,000 in cash across the Russian-Chinese border.

Russian border police and Federal Security Agency found the smugglers on August 17th, attempting to cross the border by boat across Lake Khanka, 300 kilometres from Vladivostok. The smugglers – Chinese nationals – are believed to have been working to feed the vast underground market for wildlife products in the People’s Republic of China, where wildlife products are sold widely for their use in Traditional Chinese Medicine. The Khanka Lake area is considered to be one of the most important thoroughfares for contraband between the two countries. 

The value of the goods, estimated at $36,000 in Russia, would have been far higher in China in the thriving illegal wildlife trade markets. The bear gall bladders, whose bile is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, would have been smuggled separately, as the value of the bile exceeds that of the paws.

The seizure was first reported to the international community by the Phoenix Fund, a leading Russian wildlife conservation organization based in Vladivostok. Phoenix supports several anti-poaching teams that protect tigers, leopards, bears and other wildlife in the region. Phoenix sent an official request to the Russian CITES authorities to start an official CITES procedure, which will hopefully result in co-operation between China and Russia in the investigations into the illegal wildlife trade networks in both countries. Phoenix Fund director Sergei Bereznuk stated; “This and previous seizures of bear products demonstrate convincingly that legalizing domestic tiger farming and trade in tiger parts in China will not eliminate smuggling of tiger body parts into China. There are large bear farms in China and legal trade in the bear products from these farms. However, bear poaching and smuggling bear paws and gall bladders from Russia to China have not decreased as a result of the legal trade. On the contrary; the legal trade is used as a cover for illegal trade in bear parts that are smuggled into China. We appeal to the international community to support tiger conservationists who urge Chinese authorities to abandon their plan to legalise domestic trade in tiger parts.” 

The confiscated bear paws are mostly from Himalayan black bears (Ursus thibetanus), recognized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources-World Conservation Union (IUCN) as globally Vulnerable due to habitat loss and poaching. The tiger pelt is from the Critically Endangered Amur (Siberian) tiger (Panthera tigris altaica), now found only in the Russian Far East.

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Notes:

• This seizure, although noteworthy for the volume of contraband wildlife products, is by no means unprecedented. Major confiscations of wildlife products in the Russian Far East in recent years include these sample large confiscations:
• March 2004 (778 bear paws, 388 kg of dry sea cucumber, 42 antlers, fur animals' skins (1,550 Siberian weasel skins, 1,600 sable skins, 53 raccoon skins, 30 fox skins, 155 beaver/mink skins, 2,180 squirrel skins), 280 musk glands, 24 bear galls, 3 pheasants, 3 deer hearts, 64 deer penises, and other products valued at approximately $100,000). Seizure at the Poltavka checkpoint on the Russia-China border.
• January 2007 (three tiger skins, eight tiger paws, 531 saiga horns, 283 bear paws, plus five packages full of wild animal skeletons, valued at approximately $75,000). Seizure in southern Primorski Krai.
• April 2002 (eighteen live bear cubs found in cardboard boxes). Seizure made in a shipping route nearing the Russia-China border
• The demand in China for wildlife products, including bear gall bladders, tiger bones, and many other products made of endangered species, is widely recognized as one of the key factors in organized commercial poaching and wildlife smuggling operations. These organized crimes have a global footprint that is tied to the risk of extinction of wildlife species from East Africa to Southeast Asia to the Russian Far East – and even as far as Canada and the United States.  Species that suffer from intensive poaching to satisfy Chinese markets include tigers, leopards, bears, sea horses, sharks, saiga antelope and rhinoceros.  
• Government and commercial interests in China have advocated for the legalization of the sale of farmed tigers and tiger products, as well as increased bear farming. Conservationists around the world fear that the increased “legal” trade could drive the wild populations of these species even closer to extinction. Fortunately, the United States, India, Russia, and many other countries have successfully fought these efforts in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES). The 35 organizations of the International Tiger Coalition (ITC) campaign against illegal tiger trade and plans to legalise domestic tiger trade in China. For more information contact Judy Mills, tel +1-202-857-5160 , judy.mills@nfwf.org .
• There are approximately 480 wild Amur (Siberian) tigers left in the world. While the Amur tiger is Critically Endangered, its population has increased and stabilized since the early 1990s, when rampant poaching and lawlessness resulted in a steep decline of Russia’s tiger population on the verge of extinction. Patrols and increased enforcement, led by Phoenix Fund and other groups, are credits with the tiger’s survival and recovery.

Phoenix Fund

The Phoenix Fund was established in March 1998 and is a member of the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA). Its mission is to conserve the rich biodiversity of the Russian Far East. Phoenix implements a wide range of conservation projects, including anti-poaching, education, forest fire prevention and compensation of livestock kills by tigers and leopards. Phoenix receives funding from ALTA partners (IFAW, ZSL, David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, 21st Century Tiger, Tigris Foundation and AMUR) as well as from many other organizations including Wildlife Alliance, Save the Tiger Fund, Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund, Alertis - Fund for Bear and Nature Conservation, Rufford Foundation, WWF, WFN, and Project AWARE. In 2006 Phoenix Fund Director Sergei Bereznuk won the £30,000 Whitley Award recognizing his "outstanding achievements in nature conservation."

ALTA - Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance

ALTA's mission is to secure a future for wild Amur tigers and leopards in the Russian Far East and China. ALTA is a unique alliance of international and Russian conservation organizations working together to save the Amur leopard and Amur tiger from extinction. Some are fundraisers, while others implement projects on the ground – between them ALTA partners manage over half the tiger and leopard conservation projects in the Russian Far East. Close cooperation and communication between partners ensures that the work is efficient and effective. ALTA partners include Phoenix Fund, The Wildlife Conservation Society, Zoological Society of London, IFAW Russia, AMUR, Moscow Zoo, David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, Tigris Foundation and Helsinki Zoo.