We Must Stand Up for the Defense of Key Wildlife Predators — Wolves, Bears, and Tigers

People are afraid of predatory animals. And when propaganda and the “pumping up” of fears by all mass media are layered on top of biological, instinctive fears, one conflict between a wolf and a human is enough for society itself to begin calling for the extermination of all predators! Hunting lobbyists within the authorities shamelessly take advantage of this. It is no secret that sport hunting for entertainment is a “lordly pastime,” and almost every high-ranking official or businessman begins actively shooting animals for fun. An even bigger dream for them is to open their own hunting grounds in old age, in retirement, and host other high-ranking hunters.

I have written before that even according to official data, over just the past few years a third of all publicly accessible forest lands in the country have been transferred into private hands for the organization of sport hunting. And also, against the backdrop of the decline of the “hunting safari” industry in Africa—because there they have almost exterminated all animals, and combined with numerous political and social problems it has become unprofitable to go there—entire regions here have begun shifting their economies toward developing an industry of paid killings. Luring the rich from all over the world into our Russian Taiga—to shoot bears in Kamchatka while they sleep in their dens, wolves from a helicopter with a rifle and powerful optics, and then to go steam in a bathhouse and drink some vodka afterward.

It is precisely for the sake of this industry that in recent years officials have adopted a record number of bills expanding opportunities for paid killings. To the point that they legalized shooting animals with bows and crossbows for lovers of “special pleasures,” killings near populated areas (in green zones), and even enclosure hunting, when a forest is fenced off and declared an “enclosure”—all animals inside that zone become private property, which can be killed however one wants, by any methods, without limits, quotas, or seasonal restrictions.

Demand is growing from abroad and within the country, and killing animals for entertainment has begun gaining unprecedented popularity! Prices are enormous—from the sale of equipment to the organization of VIP tours. Naturally, all killing of animals is, first and foremost, a demonstration of one’s status and influence! Among the same rich people as yourself, you want to kill only the biggest and best animals—this is the entire point of trophy hunting. That’s why they strive to “take” a wolf or a bear; few are interested in killing a roe deer, say, or an owl! That is usually the business of ordinary hunters who try to join the “wealthy class.” But the rich and officials are precisely the ones who go to shoot status animals. Hence the demand for killing predators.

The lobbyists went further. In recent years the number of scandals surrounding tigers, which are listed in the Red Book and whose numbers do not exceed 750 individuals for the entire country, has been actively growing. But killing a tiger is the dream of every status hunter, so lobbyists are shaking up legislation, trying to achieve the legalization of shooting Red Book species. 

We stopped one such bill last year with incredible effort! But the attempts continue—they justify it with anything, from an “immeasurably increased population” to “relieving animals of suffering.”

Now about our struggle with you, Allies.

For a long time we have stood up for wolves, tigers, and bears. We slowed down dangerous bills, launched initiatives, and carried out annual analytical work on the extermination of bears. All of this is important work!

The situation is made worse by the fact that few people want to defend predators. People’s instinctive fears are hard to override with any arguments! Therefore, due to the lack of public support, large international organizations also do not take up the defense of predatory animals. Except locally, partially—but without a large-scale, targeted struggle. In essence, key animal species on which the integrity and health of ecosystems depend are being ruthlessly destroyed amid approving shouts from one half of humanity and complete indifference—and even complicity—from the other.

Look.

WOLVES.

Wolves are being exterminated on a large scale all over the world; in many regions of the planet they have been wiped out completely, and in others they are being finished off right now. At the same time, they are considered “parasites,” pests, ignoring any scientific assessments and the calls of expert scientists to protect the wild’s natural sanitizers.

Wolves can be killed by any means, including methods of torture (traps) and shootings from helicopters. Night-vision optics can be used, as well as flashbang devices; dens can be torn apart and pups killed; and for each killed wolf the authorities pay bonuses of up to 500 US dollars per individual.

Wolves live and hunt in packs, as is well known! Trophy hunters strive to kill precisely mature, strong individuals because, as I repeat, that is the point of trophy hunting. To “take down” the leader or a unique huge wolf—and likewise destroy strong genes. After a wolf pack breaks apart, the sick, weak, young, and inexperienced wolves remain! They cannot hunt on their own, cannot obtain food, and therefore go to people in search of food. They begin tearing livestock and dogs apart; conflicts appear, which leads to the media stirring up stories about “terrible wolves coming out of the forest,” intimidating the population. This is picked up by the authorities, who allocate budget money to fight the “gray threat.” They increase the number of quotas issued, give more bonuses, and organize drives.

Lone wolves mix with stray dogs; I wrote about this in my materials; genetically, the true wild wolf is dying out. Even around populated areas, hybrids of wolves and dogs are already appearing, which experts talk about and which has already been officially confirmed by the authorities! But no one sorts out “who came out of the taiga”—looks like a wolf? Then it’s a wolf—and they beat them all indiscriminately, worsening the situation and finally destroying biogeocenoses.

BEARS.

Back in 2018, Russia’s FSB and the Prosecutor General’s Office spoke out in defense of bears, even asked to include them in the Red Book and stated that bear populations were rapidly dying out. But the scandal was “hushed up,” after which year after year the regions began issuing more quotas for shooting bears! We annually keep a registry of bear extermination, manually counting how many quotas the authorities issue for shooting them—so this is REALLY A LARGE-SCALE EXTERMINATION OF THE MASTER OF THE RUSSIAN TAIGA.

Let’s say that for the 2026 hunting season alone, the authorities issued, in total, more than 46 thousand quotas for shooting bears. All because demand is growing—bear is first on the list of what a “trophy tourist” wants to kill on a “Russian safari.” And the main interest is killing “by the Russian tradition—bear in the den.” That is, to wake a sleeping animal and shoot it!

First, the Ministry of Natural Resources legalized extended periods for killing bears, allowing hunting them until December 31 each year. As is known, bears go to sleep in November, so as soon as they enter hibernation they can already legally be killed. Moreover, many female bears go to sleep pregnant or with their grown cubs (yearlings). Naturally, no one can know whether there are cubs in the den: first they kill the mother, then they shoot the offspring. By law, bear cubs under a year old cannot be killed, so they are left in the bloodstained snow by the mother’s corpse, slowly dying of hunger in the cold. Or they are killed quietly. And if the cubs are over a year old—they can be shot completely legally!

Then the Ministry of Natural Resources went further and tried to allow bears to be killed throughout the entire winter! We barely fought off this bill. If it had been adopted, bears could have been shot all winter until spring.

TIGERS.

And the situation with tigers—hungry predators are increasingly coming out to people. In recent years there has been a series of conflicts, many killed tigers, and there are victims among people. Tigers go to people, lose caution, drag dogs off chains in villages during frosts.

For a long time we sought recognition of the problems—that tigers simply have nothing to eat! There is no prey base. The authorities claimed that this was not the case. Only last year did we manage to obtain recognition of everything we had been talking about with you—the federal government confirmed: yes, the habitat has been destroyed! Yes, tigers have nothing to eat. Yes, the situation is critical.

But nothing changed. They confirmed it and forgot! And the conflicts continue, and around this, rubbing their hands, officials are actively proposing to legalize the shooting of tigers “for overall safety.”

THEY SAY THERE ARE TOO MANY OF THEM

Officials claim that wolves, bears, and tigers have become too numerous. Supposedly they’ve bred in huge numbers and don’t fit in the taiga! But in reality it’s not that there are more animals—it’s that people see them more often: driven by hunger, they go to people in search of food. Massive logging, transferring all forests into private hands for sport killings, as well as seasonal forest fires DUE TO HUMAN FAULT. There is simply no prey base! And naturally, predatory animals go where there might be food—to humans.

Practically all information on animal numbers is collected from “surveys of hunting users”—an extremely biased position to assess the state of biogeocenoses based on the words of those who are directly interested in expanding their exploitation.

HOW TO FIGHT?

In fact, predatory animals are “backed into a corner” of any sound reason, and protecting them interests practically no one. I believe we must take up the protection of wolves, bears, and tigers as seriously as possible and try to achieve change! Not just voicing problems, but also pushing specific proposals within the authorities for their protection and interaction with them. This is important work!

Earlier we launched two Public Initiatives—in defense of tigers and in defense of wolves. But as a rule, our initiatives are, first of all, local problems that need to be solved “here and now.” And for wolves, bears, and tigers, very large project work is required; the problem cannot be solved quickly!

I propose that in January–February 2026, we develop and launch separate projects to protect the key predators of the Russian Taiga. Close the initiatives and move to a project format of work, purposefully achieving change! A large public effort is needed, active educational work, specific proposals to the government, and bringing together all fragmented scientific data.

In the bear protection project, add functionality with data from our registry and update annually the information on exactly how many bears the authorities have allowed to be killed in the wild!

I think we can launch full-fledged projects—separately for the protection of tigers, wolves, and bears! Develop coordination centers, create monitoring, purposefully push through changes in interaction with them within the state system. Build experience within our country, pass it further to nature defenders all over the world, expanding the mechanisms of the struggle for Life.

But it will be difficult; it will require time and strength. And also constant work in each direction! Let’s discuss with you in the near future whether we have enough resources for this struggle, whether we can take it on—and if yes, then I propose we begin launching the projects.

© PAVEL PASHKOV