This Russian man fights poachers to save a species
And doesn’t he kind of look like Liam Neeson?
Russia’s doing something really great for important members of society: tigers.
OK, yeah, Russia also just opened a theme park that can teach your child how to use a grenade launcher. And some Russians basically keep bears at pets. And they all drive with dash cams because pedestrians have a nasty habit of hurling themselves into the road at an attempt at insurance fraud.
It’s safe to say Russia has a certain reputation, but beneath all that snow and vodka is a heart that beats for Siberian tigers.
Meet Russia’s tiger guardians. Pavel Fomenko, program coordinator for WWF Russia is like a Siberian Liam Neesan who basically calls up these poachers and is like “I will find you. And I will kill you.’’
“I carry out a local war with those rascals who are always stealing from the forest,’’ Fomenko says. “We watch and catch poachers as they enter here.’’
Last year President Vladimir Putin was photographed helping conservationists release a tiger into the wild. Though we might think that was just a PR stunt, it was actually intended to show the world his commitment to saving the endangered species, according to National Geographic.
Only about 500 Siberian tigers remain in eastern Russia due to habitat loss and rampant poaching. Fomenko and his gang of antipoachers really care about these big cats. To them, they’re more than just animals.
“The tiger is, for me, the most important indicator of the state of the environment, including society,’’ Fomenko says. “Because as long as we have tigers in our forests, it means that everything is more or less calm in society. It means that people are working. People don’t need to go out and poach tigers to feed their families. And that is very important.’’
20 free things to do around Boston
[bdc-gallery id=”109049″]
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com