The specially authorised wildlife protection bodies of the Khabarovsk and Primorye territories play a key role in preserving the Amur tiger populations in their zones of responsibility – the specially protected natural areas and hunting reserves in these two regions account for nearly 90 percent of all Amur tiger habitats. Alexei Surovy, Deputy Director of the Primorye Territory Department for Hunting Supervision, tells about his department and its contribution to saving the endangered species.

Question: Looking back at the 2004-2005 tiger count, wildlife protection was then entrusted to one federal body and the protection of threatened species from the Red Data Book – to another federal body. Later, the task of protecting tigers and their food sources was moved outside the competence of federal wildlife protection bodies and concentrated in the hands of regional authorities. How did it influence the Amur tiger count and tiger conservation efforts in general?

Alexei Surovy: I’ve been serving in the hunting supervision system for 15 years already and can see the difference. It should be said that most of my colleagues, with whom I’ve worked in the federal agency for ten years, still work there. The only difference is the amount of funding, which, by the way, doesn’t always depend on whether the case in point is a regional or a federal body. When you have it all in a single pair of hands, work can be organised more effectively. You can’t separate the food base – hoofed animals –from the Amur tiger or the Far Eastern leopard. Therefore, a comprehensive approach is needed. Of course, we would like to have more funding, above all, for expanding staff, but we are all sober-minded people and will rely on our current staff and resources, and besides, we are lucky enough to have such organisations as the Amur Tiger Centre, whose help in the tiger conservation efforts is always welcome.

Question: Comparing 2005 with this year, has the introduction of new technologies changed anything? Does it help scientists to work faster and more efficiently?

Alexei Surovy: Yes. For counters and, especially, for those who process data, things are much better now. It is easier to download a track from a satellite navigator connected to a topographic map than to digitalise a track hand-drawn by a counter. Also, data obtained from a device is more reliable, it’s the same with footprint photos. During the last count, we extensively used footprint photography and satellite navigators. In none of the previous large-scale research projects to monitor or count the Amur tiger population were the oversight requirements so high. First of all, we need to obtain reliable primary data and then to decide how it should be processed. Back to the 2004-2005 count, it was initiated by public organisations with minimal oversight on the part of the state.  

Question: The main task of the hunting supervision service is to catch poachers. Were there detentions during the count?

Alexei Surovy: I can only partially agree with you. Knowledge of the game stock is sometimes more important than a couple of detained poachers. Our department calculates the depletion limits, in other words, how many hoofed animals, for example, can be legally hunted, and if we make mistakes or have no such data at all, the result would be overhunting and, consequently, the number of animals will shrink. Unless we keep records of rare animal populations, we may overlook the moment when, for some reason or other, they start to decrease, which may prove critical for the tigers and leopards. That’s why animal population control is as important as animal protection. Both are inseparable and should develop as a single whole – a change in animal populations indicates how well an inspector works. It’s worth noting that our inspectors did their job fairly well during the past count, detaining ordinary poachers and even functionaries of different ranks, some of them with shoulder straps.

Question: Did you personally participate in the count?

Alexei Surovy: Certainly. I was chiefly coordinating the actions of our employees during the active phase of the count, but, fortunately, I did manage to make it out into the forest. I oversaw the count in the Chuguyevka, Dalnerechensk and Spasskoye districts of Primorye. There weren’t any major mistakes, though. Anyway, I couldn’t resist the pleasure of taking a ride along a couple of control routes and a few more trails that no one had checked for a number of reasons.

Question: Did any particular trail impress you?

Alexei Surovy: Those were hard routes. The snow lay almost 90 cm thick. My snowmobile, which, unlike the Burans, has two skis, often plunged deep into the snow, even on frozen tracks left by a Buran, and it took me up to half an hour to dig it out. Warm as my clothes were, they were frozen throughout by the time I drove back in the evening, and it got very cold.

Question: Are all poachers alike? Can poaching be totally eradicated?

Alexei Surovy: I divide poachers into four types. Some do it for the sake of “trophies”. These are mostly officials or well-off people. Others do it for pleasure. Quite often, these are people with money, well-equipped and armed, who think that everyone can be bribed. But the most dangerous are those who kill animals and sell their meat. Finally, there are local residents, for whom hunting is a means of subsistence. Poaching is a social phenomenon, which is why it can’t be fully eradicated. People will always violate hunting rules, just as they always violate traffic rules. But the number and the severity of violations is a different matter. It’s within our powers to significantly reduce the total number of violations and minimise the share of severe offences.