Siberia’s wildlife species are under threat of being drastically reduced by widespread poaching. The situation is so serious that the governor of Tomsk reportedly decided to recruit a special squad to combat poaching. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, there are 50,000 recorded illegal hunting incidents each year. Furthermore, Russia’s environmental campaigners claim there is little environmental awareness, the numbers of forest rangers have fallen down drastically, and animals are even hunted as part of VIP-organised trips. Read more: opendemocracy.net