From forestry worker to wildlife protector

The scientific research and monitoring center of the Hunchun National Siberian Tiger Nature Reserve is located about 550 kilometers southeast of Changchun, capital of Jilin province, near the China-Russia border.

The center's director, Lang Jianmin, is also a big cat expert at the Feline Research Center of the State Forestry Administration. However, 16 years ago he was a forestry worker at the Hunchun reserve with no background in animal protection.

His conversion from forest worker to forest protector occurred in 2002, when he discovered a tiger that had been severely wounded by poachers. For seven days, he watched as the animal died slowly of kidney failure.