Posted At 2025-01-31

Wolves, bears, and tigers: why are predators being exterminated?

Pavel Pashkov
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It turns out that people first deliver a crushing blow to the most complex biological species on the planet. They destroy huge trees, some of which were sometimes hundreds, or even thousands, of years old, and also exterminate large mammals. And the main hatred from humans is directed precisely against predators!


Studying data from Africa, South America, the USA, or Asia, I see exactly the same actions by humanity everywhere. Predators have long become “scapegoats,” despite their critical importance in wild ecosystems. It’s very simple: when you need to increase the killing of any animals, you must first get “approval” from society.


And since predators can potentially attack humans (although practice shows that they almost always avoid encountering people), there is an opportunity to stir up hysteria in the media in order to push through even more killings. Really, if you look at cases of predatory wild animals attacking people, there are very few, and usually in an acute conflict situation! For example, when animals have no remaining food base and are forced to come to humans in search of sustenance.


What do they mean to us?


I did not want to describe the importance of predators in ecosystems again, as I have already written about this many times before. But I think it’s still worth briefly mentioning so that the material is complete — many readers are encountering the problem for the first time.


Predatory animals are “regulators” of ecosystems. They control the number of herbivores and other small animals, preventing populations from “exploding” and destroying their food base. In our country, for example, this concerns deer or wild boars.


In addition, predators provide the extremely necessary modes of “natural selection,” without which balance in ecosystems is impossible. As a rule, predators hunt the weaker or sick animals, including individuals with genetic abnormalities, which strengthens the health of the species. These processes developed over millions of years of evolution, and in many ecosystems around the world, “natural selection” is regulated only by top predators.


And of course, it is worth mentioning the support of diversity. If predators are “removed” from the wild, a complete degradation of biological systems begins. This does not happen immediately but gradually, yet the consequences are catastrophic. The number of herbivores grows, vegetation declines, which affects the entire ecosystem — birds, insects, mammals, and so on. During scientific research in Yellowstone National Park (USA), when wolves were exterminated, severe changes occurred in the ecosystems — up to the rivers overflowing their banks and forested areas becoming marshy. This led to the death of fruit-bearing trees growing on the banks, the destruction of food chains, the extinction of many species, and a shortage of food (hunger). These processes were only stopped after wolves were returned to the wild.


Therefore, to sum up: if you remove predators from the wild, it inevitably leads to the degradation of the food base and vegetation, a general reduction in biodiversity, and the “withering” of ecosystems. Problems will also gradually begin in the animal species themselves — disruption of genetic health, the emergence of dangerous diseases, and congenital abnormalities that will be passed down through genes in the populations.


In the end, all ecosystems will be in sharp decline, begin to degrade, and self-destruct. It is enough to “remove” the predatory animal species from them.


What about predators in Russia?


Now let’s get to the essence of this material. I want to briefly describe the situation with the main predatory animals in Russia — these are wolves, bears, and tigers. We focus only on facts, personal experience, and scientific assessments.


Wolves


They “get it” the most. To date, there are no laws protecting wolves, no federal programs, and even society largely supports clearing nature of wolf packs. In all regions of the country, there is virtually unlimited hunting of wolves, and for each wolf killed, authorities pay bounties of up to 50,000 rubles (about 500 dollars), pulling together “hunting brigades” and encouraging the extermination of the “sanitarians” of the wild.


It is completely ignored that in this way people provoke more frequent appearances of wolves in settlements and even bigger problems. The fact is that exterminating wolves destroys the pack structure: hunters first kill adult individuals and pack leaders. After this, the social organization of the packs falls apart, resulting in more “loners” and young, inexperienced wolves that can no longer hunt on their own and naturally go to people. This, in turn, generates new waves of hysteria, once again allocating millions of rubles to “fight the gray menace,” raising bounties, and further exacerbating the problem.


Meanwhile, hunters strive to kill the strongest wolves, especially for “trophy” hunting. This means that the dominant individuals, which have important genes for the survival of the entire population, are destroyed first.


By law, wolves can be killed by almost any methods, even “torturous” devices (traps and snares). Hunting from helicopters is allowed, it is permitted to run them over with vehicles, kill pups, and destroy dens. You can hunt them with night optics and other “special equipment.”


The scale of the killings is increasing — you could practically make “wolf reports” every day in the news when wolves are slaughtered all over the country by heavily armed hunters.


We have been trying to influence the problem for many years: the entire federal government has been notified and is well aware of our proposals. We call for an end to the extermination of wolves, the creation of a federal program for their protection, and the use of modern technical means to prevent conflicts.


A public initiative has been launched as part of our efforts. You can take part in it via the link.


Study the initiative


Bears


Now about bears. Their situation is also critical, and so far I personally do not see any reliable estimates of the bear population in the country.


In 2018, Russia’s FSB and the Prosecutor General’s Office spoke out in defense of bears. They reported that there were few bears left, that their total extermination was underway, and even requested that bears be included in the Red Book. The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation also stated that the bear population in Russia had decreased by 36% in just two years. According to their data, bears dropped from 225,000 individuals in 2015 to 143,000 in 2017.


Imagine the scale and critical nature of the problem if even Russia’s security agencies are speaking out in defense of bears.


What happened next?


The scandal was “hushed up.” Meanwhile, from that very time, pro-hunting lobbyists in the government began pushing a whole cluster of hunting bills that reduce the protected status of wild animals and expand the “methods of killing.” Over three years, forests were sold off to private hands for paid hunts, the market was flooded with “wild meat,” and hunters from around the world came to our country for “Russian safari” trophies.


Over the last 5–7 years, the paid hunting industry has grown so much that in 2023, the authorities officially stated: “a third of all publicly accessible hunting grounds in the country has been transferred to private hands for the organization of sporting hunts.”


Which animal do trophy hunters primarily want to “take down”? For which beast, paying tens of thousands of dollars, are Europeans and Americans ready to fly to Russia for a “Russian safari”?


That’s right: for the killing of bears. It is a “status” animal, especially in the context of the traditional “den hunt,” when people put on ushanka hats, bring vodka, dogs, and go to wake the bears. They wake them by throwing burning torches into the den, then shoot the frightened animal running out from the fire.


So, since 2018, “suddenly,” all the regions of the country began, as if by agreement, to raise quotas for bear hunting. Every year they deliberately issue more and more permits to kill them. Meanwhile, in 2020, the Ministry of Natural Resources passed an amendment legalizing the killing of bears until December 31 (i.e., during hibernation), and then tried to legalize hunting throughout the winter until spring.


We managed to stop the insane bill to kill bears all winter. But I expect the next “attempt” by officials to pass this law in 2025 or 2026, when public discontent “settles.”


This is precisely that “den hunt.” The demand is enormous, and the Ministry of Natural Resources is trying to meet it, justifying it with any reasons.


Therefore, according to official statistics, our population “grows,” and every case of hungry bears appearing to people is immediately inflated by the media into nationwide scandals, which becomes a reason to push through even more killings.


We are trying to support public demand: an initiative has been launched, we also require the repeal of the amendments extending the season until December 31. You can not only familiarize yourself with our initiative and take part in it personally, but also study the register of bear extermination — we carry out a full analytical effort, tracking the issued quotas by region.


Study the initiative


Tigers


And of course, our tigers. According to official statistics, our country has about 750 tigers, including those restored in recent years thanks to a government program. But at the same time, no one has systematically restored the tiger’s habitat, and forests have been handed over to private hands for paid hunting and industrial logging.


In recent years, there has been a massive appearance of tigers approaching people in search of food. In winter, so as not to die of hunger and cold, they come to villages — they grab dogs from chains, eat them. Every year, the situation worsens: already this winter, it reached critical conflicts — there are several dead tigers and even a deceased person.


By law, tigers are an endangered species and are listed in the Red Book, so killing them is prohibited. But what then? Officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources found a “solution” — they are trying to push through a bill that legalizes the killing of animals listed in the Red Book.


Meanwhile, instead of real measures to track tigers and create a digital environment (using modern technical means), we have descended into complete absurdity. For example, in one of the videos, employees of the Ministry of Natural Resources put a frightened dog in a cramped cage in the January cold (in the Far East) to “bait” a tiger.


We have launched a public initiative to protect tigers with specific proposals to the government — these are real modern steps to solve the problem. 


Study the initiative


And we have also launched a separate initiative against the Ministry of Natural Resources’ bill to kill Red Book animals.


Study the initiative


Conclusions


This is the situation, comrades, with predators in our country! We are fighting and trying with all our might to influence these problems, but so far everything is going very hard.


Your help is the best means for future victory. Spread this material and tell people the truth. The Russian Taiga has no one else but us.


© PAVEL PASHKOV

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