Today, my group visited the Model hunting reserve “ Orlinoe ” which took about 2 hours to get there. This reserve covers an area of 10,000 ha. It was fascinating to learn about how the reserve staffs and WWF-Russia collaborate to create the biological complex in increasing the number of wild ungulates which are main prey for tiger. The Orlinoe director, Sergey Volbly, was describing how the system works.
( Feeding station for wild boars )
( Feeding stations for ungulates )
He showed us the feeding station for wild boars and deer species. This feeding station is really important for the ungulates when there is heavy snow in winter time and they can’t find enough food. So they will come to the man-made food source which contains nutrition, grains and covered by local grass. There is also mineral ground to provide necessary mineral substances for animals during winter time. How do they do this? They first start finding the wet soil area either under the tree or nearby the river bank. The reserve staffs dig out the soil and put a sac of salt for example in the soil. This is because the area is wet so it will become salty after the salt is put in. Animals attend this mineral ground in winter time because they really need this during this period. These two methods are very successful as they can see the ungulate number is increasing. They also help animals to concentrate in the same area which is to prevent them from being poached and also encourage the animals not to migrate far away. So tigers will still have abundant prey and increase its population.
( Mineral ground )
He also talked about hunting system that hunters need to apply for hunting license first and then the permission will be given to the rangers who will accompany the hunters. This is to prevent illegal or over hunting. Hunting is really under their control as the maximum number of animals that can be hunt is not more than 100 annually.
( Resting time for delegates )
After a tasty lunch, the model hunting staffs took us to a place that there is an evidence of a prey eaten by Amur tiger. It was 6km for a round trip and it was pretty hilly. During the trip, he explained how the camera traps work and showed us some sample pictures from the cameras. Everybody was so curious and excited to see where that story about Amur tiger took place. When we got to the place, we saw the feather, skin and legs of the wild boar. The staffs also pointed out the tiger scratch on the tree while it was attacking the wild boar. Poor boar!!!
( Amur tiger scratch on a tree )
( left boar skin and legs, eaten by Amur tiger )
Today was the last day of our field trips and I think I have absorbed many new and significant information plus unforgettable experiences on Amur tiger and leopard conservation program in the Russian Far East. This will be a valuable guide for me to start thinking how to begin and accomplish the Indochinese tiger conservation in Laos.
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