IFAW's Animal Rescue Blog

IFAW Russia: Orphan Bear Cubs Prepare for Winter - Soooo Cute

These photos of two orphaned Russian bear cubs were recently taken at the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Bear Rehabilitation Center. The notes below come from our staffer Lena Averianova.

The autumn comes to an end. Ostakh and Gena have grown, they are stronger, and we hope they have already forgotten how their story began.

Beautiful, free animals, just look at photos.

They are now walking in a open-air wooden enclosure, they show the skills and ability to find food and they skillfully climb up trees. Employees at the center sometimes feed the bears apples, for them this is a big delicacy.

These young bears already have the necessary weight and warm fur coats so they are ready to 'lie down' for the winter in a den prepared by IFAW staff.

Everything is well with Ostakh and Gena at the IFAW BRC and now we can wish them: “Kind winter dreams!"

IFAW Staffer Helps in an Unexpected Sea Turtle Rescue

When IFAW Russia's Lena Averianova left for vacation to Thailand, we never thought she would soon be reporting back with an animal rescue! It seems you can leave the job but the job never leaves you. Below is her experience with a one-armed endangered sea turtle that was rescued off a beach in the Island of Phuket.

I recently spent my vacation on Thailand's Phuket Island. As I was enjoying a walk along the Katong beach, I suddenly realized that people were all running to a spot a few meters from where I was. Realizing that something unexpected was happening, I decided to go and have a look. Much to my surprise, I found a big sea turtle there, surrounded by lifeguards that were busy digging out a pool for the turtle to rest in and water-down. It soon became evident that the turtle had been inadvertently pushed out of the ocean by the very big waves that were spread out on the entire coast. The turtle had been visibly struggling to get back but had a hard time because it only had one flipper. How and when the turtle lost its flipper remains a mystery to me but it seemed that she had been able to survive like that for quite a long time.

A lot of tourists surrounded the turtle but no one really understood how careful you have to be around these animals and they soon started taking out their cameras and approached to touch her. I immediately told everyone to step back and that we would need to help her in this time of need, not place extra stress on the animal. I contacted the rescue team and waited there, watering the turtle and feeling nervous for her during 10 minutes while help arrived to where we were. They were soon able to examine the turtle and we placed her in a special basin for transportation. I didn't leave her side until the car left, headed for a suitable holding location where she will be rehabilitated and then hopefully go back to her ocean home.

I've worked in IFAW's Russian office for nearly 8 years now and during that time I've helped many different animals. I was so happily surprised that even when far from my office and country I was again needed to help an animal in distress. I again understood that I'm really doing the work I'm supposed to do. It was also heartwarming to meet people that dedicate their lives to rescuing animals and know that I will find them all over the world.

For more information on the International Fund for Animal Welfare's work around the world, please visit http://www.ifaw.org

Amur tiger released back to the wild!

The following post was filed by Masha Vorontsova, the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Russia Director, following the release of an endangered Amur (aka Siberian) Tiger, one of only 450 remaining in the wild.

Last week, in Russia’s Far East, a 14-month old male tiger was successfully released after six months in rehabilitation. Prior to the release, the young tiger was radio-collared by scientists from the Russian Academy of Science who will monitor the cub after the release.

When the orphan tiger cub was found on the 1st of March of this year in the village of Avangard, no one even believed there could be a happy end to this story. The small and weak tiger cub, which at the age of eight months weighed only 17 kg, came to the village in the call of hunger.

In his desperation, the starving cub tried to kill a villager’s dog. Alerted by the noise, locals immediately contacted the government’s tiger protection team: Inspection Tiger to ask for help.

Rescued Bear Cub "Ostakh" has New Stepbrother "Gena"

This post was filed by IFAW’s Lena Averianova reporting from Russia.

In a recent visit to the public prosecutor’s office in the Smolensk region in Russia, one could see a number of items held as evidence involved in various crimes. Amidst all of them, there he was a living orphaned bear cub! On the 27th of May, a police officer on patrol stopped a car and found a bear cub in it!

The driver and other passengers in the car claimed that they had found it in the forest not far from the village Arkhipovka and decided to bring it to Moscow’s zoo center. The policemen then made the right decision and seized the bear until all the circumstances were clarified and to temporarily house the bear in the nearby village Petushky with a man who owned an appropriate and safe enclosure.

It took a long time to decide the fate of the small orphan. It’s hard to imagine what it was feeling while he was kept in the enclosure as material evidence. As soon as the situation leaked out, the International Fund for Animal Welfare took action.

IFAW provided all the necessary papers to the Public prosecutor’s office of Smolensk region to get the right permissions to admit the bear-cub into the IFAW Bear Rescue Center located in the Tver region. Center staff immediately went to retrieve the bear from the village enclosure where he had been kept.

On June 8th, the cub arrived at the center and began rehabilitation. First of all Gena, as he was named, went through the full medical examination, which is compulsory for all the bear cubs arriving at the Center. They are weighed, bathed, their temperature is measured, fur and skin condition assessed – a complete check-up to identify its health and screen for potential wounds or injuries. Fortunately for Gena, antibiotics were not needed. The next step was measuring its height, body length, paw-size and appearance – color and tone of the fur, individual features of the color, etc.

Today, Gena is out of quarantine and has joined little Ostakh, a bear who arrived early January unable to open his eyes or walk and that now can climb trees! The Center officers are sure that the cubs will become friends and will happily grow together and become “true” bears, as with 4 bears that in spring this year were released back to the wild after the full course of rehabilitation. The released bears are all radio-collared which will allow us to learn more about their first year in the forest. According to staff at the center, all the released bears that are currently under observation are healthy and have successfully adapted themselves to the free life.

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For more information on the International Fund for Animal Welfare's work on bears, please visit ifaw.org.

Rare Far Eastern Leopard Cub Stolen in Russia

A rare 1 month old Far Eastern leopard cub was stolen in Russia along with a Mercedes last week...apparently the cat had been given to Mikhail Barakin as a birthday present. Video above, link to the original story is here. For more information on the International Fund for Animal Welfare's work with leopards, please visit www.ifaw.org

Three falcons rescued from smugglers are released to freedom!

At the beginning of March, six critically endangered Gyrfalcons were confiscated at the Chkalovskiy Military Airport near Moscow by local representatives of Russia’s State Security Service or FSB.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) immediately stepped in and those three birds that survived the trauma of the shipping and subsequent confiscation went on to IFAW rehabilitator, Sergey Ganusevich. Having been packed tightly within a cardboard paper box, the birds were in extremely poor condition, dangerously underfed and in need of proper care.

We now have the exciting news to report that these three falcons were rehabilitated successfully and released today April 2, at Kamchatka (where the birds were originally caught)! (See the before and after views below to grasp the transformation.) We are so pleased to see that these birds will now have a second chance at life.

Shocking size and beauty in rescued Falcons

Last week, 6 critically endangered Gyrfalcons were confiscated at the Chkalovskiy Military Airport near Moscow by local representatives of Russia’s State Security Service or FSB.

Shortly after, Russia’s agency for nature management (Rosprirodnadzor) handed over the birds to IFAW’s Sergey Ganusevich to undergo rehabilitation and release efforts in a bid to save some of the last remaining Gyrfalcons in Russia.

Sergey has cared for raptors for more than 30 years as a scientist and expert rehabilitator. In all his years, he had yet to see birds of this magnificent size and grace. Even under poor body condition, the birds weighed between 1.87 and 2.1 kg! The average weight of a female gyrfalcon in good conditions is around 1.8 kg. With birds this size, Sergey believes that at least two of the six individuals could have been sold for over $100,000 USD each. Falconry fuels an expensive and illegal business over international borders that pay no respect for the animal victims that are smuggled.

At the moment all 6 birds are still alive. Packed tightly within a cardboard paper box, the birds are shipped in very poor conditions and those lucky enough to be rescued are immediately provided with veterinary care and feed. The falcons show up dangerously underfed and needing proper rehabilitation before they can gain their freedom back. With these six birds, only 1 has begun to feed by itself so the rest of them need to be force-fed in order to keep them alive.

Ostakh continues to fight for his life

Ostakh, the only bear cub survivor of a litter of three, is doing well after seven weeks at the IFAW Bear Rescue Center in Russia.

Ostakh's mother was killed in a den hunt. He and his siblings were prematurely delivered by their mother as the mother bear was chased out of her den. The stress of the chase provoked an early delivery of her cubs. Unfortunately, this happens quite often in these hunts and the mother is forced to build a primitive bed for the birth. Ostakh's two siblings did not survive. One little female succumbed to her injuries, which she had suffered while the mother accidentally stepped on her trying to escape the hunters and the other little female died of pneumonia. Ostakh however grew from abnormal 360 grams to two kilos!

Usually Ostakh drinks 100 milliliters of milk every four hours. He is quite the moody little baby and feeding depends on his mood. Sometimes Ostakh is nervous and full of restless energy and gives trouble with the bottle. Such temporary fasting is evidently beneficial – during the next feeding he drinks all the milk, almost snorting it out of the bottle! Ostakh's favorite place is a new larger wooden box where he can crawl freely. He loves to stay near a special electric heating rug placed in his box. He is massaged after each feed and likes to spend several minutes on the warm floor, where he tries to stand up and moves actively. Ostakh has rather light fur especially on his head, and two white spots on the throat. Later the fur will darken and the spots will disappear (fur color of brown bears of Russia varies from straw to black).

IFAW has been lobbying to put and end to the winter den hunt in Russia. Appeals to the Governor and Hunt Department of the Tver Region to ban the den hunt resulted in the shortening of the hunt season, ending on January 15, 2009 (compared to regular end of bear hunt on the last day of February). The earlier date, which occurs before cubbing, will reduce the likelihood of baby bears being orphaned from the hunt. In spite of this step forward, many bear cubs will continue to die this and every year until a full ban on the hunt is finally instated and enforced.

IFAW Russia: Rescued Bear Cub Found in Basement Cage Struggling to Survive

While the IFAW bear rescue centre is struggling to keep a young premature male bear cub alive, whose mother was chased out of her den and shot, they got news of a wild, one year old bear cub, held in a cage in the cellar of a private home for a week. Here is the story of the sad little cub that will now have a happy ending with a little help from IFAW’s Bear Rescue Centre.

On January 16, IFAW BRC was contacted by an animal activist from Saratov (a large city in the Volga Region of Russia, 800 km to the South-East from Moscow), reporting a year old bear cub being held in the cellar of a private house in a cage. The cub had been captured from the wild a week ago. It was likely that he was yet another victim of the Russian bear hunt.

Rescue In Record Time

ãseverdv.ru Rescued Gyrfalcon

In the last 48 hours, 38 gyrfalcons destined to enter the hidden trails of wildlife trade, were located, rescued and released back into the wild. (Well, at least the healthy ones have been released back into the wild thus far, the others are being cared for). The location: Mil'kovo, Russia.

On Tuesday a suspicious car was apprehended carrying the 38 gyrfalcons. The drivers of the car were arrested by road inspection police. Soon after, specialists arrived on scene to coordinate the next steps in getting the birds through physical exams and back into the wild. A group of ornithologists, police, representatives of Federal Custom Service and Ministry of Natural Recourses were among the concerned group of specialist.

According to a statement, the smugglers purchased the birds from an unknown person in the village of Ossora. Specialists conclude that by being able to collect such a large group of birds, the "unknown person" must be part of a well organized poaching and hunting group, possibly an organized criminal group.

The 38 gyrfalcons are worth an approximate $360,000USD in total (Roughly $10,000USD/bird).

Today, most of gyrfalcons have been released to the wild. There are unfortunately several birds with serious injures who will need further care.

“Annually about 100 Gyrfalcons are illegally transported from the Kamchatka Peninsula. The birds live mainly over the North Polar circle migrating insignificantly southwards for winter. There are an estimated 1000 pairs of Gyrfalcons left across Russia, from West to South, with Kamchatka having approximately half of this amount. To our regret, the demand for them as falconry species is growing. This increase occurs especially in autumn, the peak of the falconry season in the Middle East”, said Anna Filippova, IFAW Russia representative.

Here is a link to a video of the rescued birds: http://www.1tv.ru/newsvideo/132308

IFAW has previously supported the release of falcons rescued in Russia. Additionally, IFAW operates the largest raptor rescue center in Beijing that has rescued more than 2000 raptors and to date has released more than half of that number back into the wild.