Hunchun Nature ReserveCampaign for Tiger Preservation in Hunchun Lang Jianmin, an employee of Hunchun Siberian Tiger Nature Reserve in China, realized that wild game

poaching with illegal snares was decreasing the prey population for Siberian tigers, and posed a significant threat

to tigers themselves. Lang applied to the Rare Conservation Fellow program to eliminate accidental trapping of

tigers by reducing hunting, eating and trade of local wildlife. To do so he reached out to local restaurants to stop

serving wild game and used marketing materials to help reduce demand within the communities for wild meat.

He established farmer patrol teams to remove traps that and set up a system of subsidies including the provision

of bee boxes for restaurant owners that stopped serving tiger prey on their menus. He essentially created an

atmosphere where selling and eating became socially unacceptable. The results were impressive:

Rare Conservation Fellow Lang Jianmin

Critical speciesSiberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica)

Target audience13,769 people from 37 villages

Area reached 108,700 hectares

Knowledge% of villagers who

know that snares

can hurt the Siberian

tiger rose from 37%

to 94%

AttitudeThe percentage

of villagers willing

to participate in a

patrol team rose

from 49% to 81%

InterpersonalCommunicationsThe percentage of

villagers who have talked

about patrol teams rose

from 0% to 99%

BarrierRemovalLocal patrols in

exchange for

beekeeping and

cattle training

Behavior Change The percentage of

villagers who eat

wild game dropped

from 56% to 18%

ThreatReductionMonthly average

of poaching

incidents dropped

from 23 to 6

Conservation ResultNo reported deaths

of tigers due to

snares or hunting

+K A IC BR TR CRBC++

HUNCHUN

CHINA

“I hoped the people could be proud of the tiger, and now I am proud of them.”

PROUD MOMENTS• Lang Jianmin invited to present at the Siberian tiger summit in St. Petersburg• Video on the Hunchun campaign features on the Environmental Film Festival website• Lang Jianmin named spokesperson for the Hunchun Nature Reserve• Siberian tiger mascot represented the province at the Shanghai Expo

LOOKING FORWARD• Rare is considering a big cat cohort (group of 12 campaigns on the same theme) in

China to replicate the successes of this campaign.• Two more patrol teams from the community will remove snares from the park.• More restaurants will be engaged to join the program.

LESSONS LEARNED• Simple incentives that affect livelihoods – like the provision of beekeeping and cattle

rearing training – are powerful tools to motivate a community to change their behaviors.• The fact that Lang was a senior-level employee allowed the campaign to fast-track

its ambitionas.• Communications with the local partners – Hunchun Nature Reserve and Wildlife

Conservation Society – needs to be consistent and constant to ensure the highest levels of commitment and involvement.

Rare inspires change sopeople and nature thrive

-Lang Jianmin