The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild lands through careful science, international conservation, education, and the management of the world’s largest system of urban wildlife parks. These activities change attitudes toward nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in sustainable interaction on both a local and a global scale. WCS is committed to this work because we believe it essential to the integrity of life on Earth.



The WCS Russia Program is one of the largest field programs in Asia working both with wildlife and the human communities that share the landscape.



WCS in Russia:



The WCS Russia program works to save the extensive forest and tundra ecosystems of Northeast Asia and the Russian Far East, and the wildlife that depends upon these healthy, functioning ecosystems.



Threats:



The main threats to biodiversity and large carnivore conservation are habitat loss/degradation, poaching, and decimation of the prey base through human overharvest. WCS works with protected area staff and managers of private hunting leases to improve management and provide alternative sources of income for rural peoples. Tigers are seen as a threat to domestic livestock and dogs and as competitors to hunters. Our research has demonstrated that roads are also major threats as they provide access to remote areas, dramatically increasing poaching of tigers