The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival

The story is wonderful. But what I learned about Far East Russia, the people, tigers, history was so enlightening. Great book.

The Tiger, by John Vaillant had been on my list of books to read for a while, but because of travel and work, I hadn't got to it yet. I have now read it. It didn't take me very long, which is a good sign. This is non-fiction, but Vaillant is fairly good at creating an interesting narrative out of a true story. In Far East Russia, an Amur (Siberian) tiger has been shot at and wounded by a logger and poacher. The tiger stalks him, kills him and eats him. This sends the Primorye region into turmoil, because in spite of the bitter cold, its inhabitants have to go into the Taiga to make a living. There are a number of tigers living there, but they normally don't attack people. This tiger, however, proved it can be different. Because he was wounded (and indeed many times) he found it hard to hunt, and was starving as a result. After killing and eating his first man, he turned to others and killed a second person from the same village as the first one. This is not new - many similar stories have happened and still happen in India. A search mission was instigated, and the tiger killed. This is all that happens in the book (and not just quite enough for my liking), but Vaillant excels at describing the region, its people, and their drastic living conditions. He also distils very interesting information about Amur tigers, which is why I found the book fascinating. Having said that, after reading the story you don't really want to go there - if you forget about the beauty of the Taiga, the living conditions and the poverty of the people are just staggering. I have always been fascinated by this part of the world and this is one of the reasons why I picked up this book. I'm less sure now, but come to think of it, I'd still go at the drop of a hat. I know the other side of the border, Chinese Manchuria, and as too often happens in China, not much of the original natural environment remains (and forget about tigers or any kind of animal!). Russia is a different story. Vaillant's descriptions of the living conditions and unemployment remind me of a few stays I had to make in Moscow in the years 1989-1990. These were tough times, and I do not have great memories of the place. I just couldn't find anything decent to eat or drink. Quite an experience, but not one I was looking forward to at the time. I understand things are different today. If you are interested in discovering Far East Russia (North West of Vladivostok) and want to know more about the fascinating Amur tiger, then this book is for you. Amur tigers (like most tigers) are heavily poached and their numbers are ever decreasing - this is partly due to the interest and beliefs of the Chinese in regard to the potency of Tiger organs, meat, paws, claws etc. They are ready to pay a fortune for them. This is bad news for the tiger, just as shark fin soup is bad news for sharks. I won't delve more into the lack of environment protection in China - we're all aware of it - but as far as tigers are concerned, The Tiger is a great book.

Right from the start, this account of man versus nature reads like the very best fiction novels, drawing you in through visceral, powerful prose. Not simply a recount of the hunt for a rogue, man-eating Amur ('siberian') tiger in the Russian Far East, John Vaillant's exceptional work weaves a much more far reaching study of human existence and survival in and with nature, wildlife and nature conservation from this one isolated incidence of tiger predation upon humans and the subsequent hunt to exterminate the noble killer. With this second effort, Vaillant has shown the ability to tell a true story about the real world around us that rivals the spellbinding writing of John Krakauer and Mark Kurlansky.Furthermore, this book is extremely personal for me - I KNEW these people in this book. Not so much the hunter/poachers, per se, but the Russian Federal anti-poaching rangers, such as Yuri Trush, who are the main protagonists in this true story. Between March 1996 and October 1997 I made five trips to the Russian Far East, using U.S. wildlife law enforcement special agents to provide training to Department Tiger of the former Ministry of Environment's Primorsky Krai Ecology Committee, headed by the venerable Vladimir Schetinin. My last contact with Trush, Schetinin and the other Operation Amba (another moniker the Department Tiger rangers went by) was just two months before the events chronicled here in late 1997. Vaillant's exhaustive research delves deep into the backgrounds of everyone involved here - not just the heroes but also the ostensible villains - and gives a more than fair account of how everyone came to this place at this time in this condition, including the man-eating tiger itself, bringing in geopolitics, human and feline evolution, genetics, and contemporary economics that makes what could have been just a 10-page treatment in OUTSIDE magazine into a dazzling, can't-put-down, 329-page classic of man versus animal, and more.The cast of an Amur tiger paw you see here was given to me by the park manager of Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve in eastern Primorskiy region. The book is a trade paperback, 8" long by 5" wide, which gives you some idea just how HUGE the paws of these largest of all cats can be. While walking with US & Russian rangers in Lazovsky zapovednik that October of 1997, one of my US colleagues was talking into his video camera as he and I brought up the rear of our small group trampling through tiger terrain, narrating how he "didn't need to outrun the tiger, he just had to outrun me." Seems from Vaillant's grand account that if a tiger is pissed off enough, shot at far too often, and hungry enough, he or she has the awesome physical prowess, the cerebral brain power and the indomitable will to devour all in it's way. The competition for scarce resources may yet see the total extinction of this species within a very short time if we cannot find alternative lifestyles and economic opportunities for all of our citizens, whether they are city or rural dwellers. The tigers' very life depends on it. As does ours, because if there's not enough room for both top-line predators, man and cat, how much longer before the earth overturns our unhappy little apple cart...? One of the very best written books on nature conservation and the connections between human civilization and our fellow earthlings. A must-read book.

Well written, keeps you engaged

From page one I was totally engrossed by Valliant's thorough treatment of his characters, their circumstances, and the history that brought them all to this place and time.

In this book, John Valliant mentions of ethnologist Jacob Von Uexkull’s concept of umwelt ( an imaginary soap bubble around each creature to represent its own world and when we then step into one of the bubbles our reality is transformed…” Umgebung is the objective relative we live in; but each of us experiences it differently from our own umwelt (subjective reality). This reference in the story is poignant – did the tiger step into the umwelt of its victim to kill it?The gruesome site where Andrei Markov a tayozhnik (forest dweller) was killed rather annihilated by the tiger in a remote taiga (forest) in Russia left the investigators and Markov’s friends or for that matter everyone around shocked and bewildered. Such ferocious brutality against man was unknown. The Inspection Tiger (the team charged to address tiger related issues in the taiga) saw in the evidence an intentional and calculated act; as if the tiger had marked out Markov, dictated the narrative and executed its plan to perfection. But why was the tiger angry with Markov?John Valliant recounts this fascinating story of man and tiger encounters that took place in December 1997 in one of the remotest part of Russia, Primorye near Sea of Japan. The encounter itself is riveting, but Valliant is in no hurry to tell the story. His narrative fills in rich details of the Primorye region, the taiga, its indigenous people, the townspeople – the displaced Russians, life post perestroika in this bleak region and the insatiable Chinese appetite for tiger organs. The discussions of each of these elements are engrossing in themselves and they also have a significant bearing on this story.Siberia evokes a sense of remoteness, Primorye or Maritime Territory, is farther south of Siberia; its biggest city Vladivostok is closer to Australia than Moscow! The taiga in this region is as remote a place on earth as can be. In its vastness and desolation there are no witnesses. The closest material evidence was Markov’s friend who could only hear the threatening growls from the site . The evidence of what happened was in the white book - snow- the meticulous record keeper. It is fascinating to see how much the investigating team reconstructed from the tell tale signs in the snow at the attack sites.In this region, between the epochal changes in Russia the plight of the common people became pathetic. During the communist regime many western Russians were displaced or shunted to the taiga, an area alien to them. That is how both Markov the victim ( a suspected poacher) and Trush the Inspection Tiger leader ended in this remote part. Post perestroika the townships in Primorye were stripped off their economic activity and became desolate islands of habitation. Very few could get jobs and the rest of the townsfolk were reduced to primitive living - hunting gathering in the taiga in the 20th century. Markov turned to fur trapping, bee keeping and in that bare existence poaching with lucrative returns was too difficult to resist. Many times Trush took a lenient view of illegal activities dismayed by the poverty of the tayozhniks.The indigenous people Udege, Nanai and Orichi have lived off the taiga for centuries. Their myths and legends have led them to believe the tiger is just and fair and their collective memory has groomed them to live in mutual respect with the tiger. The Dunkai family, of Nanai lineage, whom Markov met before his final encounter recalled that they had come face to face with a tiger and were not hurt. (They did not indulge in poaching) It was the city dwellers, the displaced Russians, the whites, who were attacked, as they lacked the understanding of the unwritten code of the taiga. The leap of faith required for this was beyond them.The taiga is not only remote but also unique; its diverse ecosystem defies classification. The Taiga Matushka (mother) provides for all and has its own nuances, unwritten rules, discerning sounds and many immanent features of which the author helpfully apprises the reader. Some are intriguing, how animal or humans making tracks serve ‘unintended courtesy’ for those who will use the same route (be it animal or beast); it saves energy something in short supply; how the entire ecosystem could collapse if the humble Korean pine nut were to disappear.The tiger by design nature’s majestic, lonely, nomadic yet the most efficient killing machine. The myths and legends surrounding it add to its potent and mystical presence. The tiger in question literally wields a psychic leash on Markov- Why did Markov refuse requests from friends to stay back and return to his cabin when he knew that there was something amiss between him and the tiger? Tiger’s gaze can mesmerize and its roar can be soul shattering and its power brute and lethal, yet it can catch a fly in its paw and release it unharmed. The locals aver that if a tiger does not want to be seen you will not be able to see it. The investigators on the Markov site become aware of the tiger’s presence by the barking of the dogs, they can’t see but can feel its potent presence and its intent in informing the of his presence. The loggers mention how the tiger is known to keep a count of those living in its area, it can wait for even a month to avenge those he feels abrogated on him. It almost seems that tigers are believed to be capable of abstract thinking.In this loci and with the given set of characters something had changed, Markov had done something which had disturbed the delicate balance between man and the top predator. Valliant’s portrayal of the events in December of 1997, of the encounters with the tiger in the taiga and the response by Inspection Tiger read like a thriller, the final showdown breathtaking. His analysis of the forces at play is scholarly yet accessible. The various research stories are informative, delightful as also they help in explaining our atavistic tendencies once we humans are thrown in primal settings.One aspect of the book which stood out was Valliant’s mastery of the language and his eye for detail. His power of expression and his vivid description create a multidimensional experience for the reader to visualize in slow motion the tiger bursting and landing on its victim, hear the snap of a twig, sharpened sounds of funeral bells in snow laden ground, the unmistakable yet unseen presence of the tiger, the amba the powerful one and the messages in the snow.It is sad that this majestic creature is under severe threat now due to indiscriminate killing and lack of serious attention it deserves. As Valliant rightly brings out in the epilogue that Taiga matushka is for men and the tiger. A multipronged approach is needed to address the complexities that exist if this beautiful being is to be protected.I enjoyed reading this book and which gave me many insights these will help whenever I read a similar story. The book shed light on many other aspects such as the efforts of many Russians who were willing to stick their neck out during the Communist regime to protect this rare species as well as other conservationists who led to the formation of Inspection Tiger.

I found the history very intersting and learnt a lot from reading it!! Can recommend it to all readers looking for a more profound history;

This book was recommended by Chris Packham, so on that basis alone I purchased a copy for my Kindle.About a third of the way through at the moment & it is a most compelling true story, wonderfully written. It gives a real insight into life in the Russian Far East, the relationship its people had/ have with the Amur tiger & the effect of politics and culture on the past and future conservation of this iconic animal.Chris is right - it's a must read for anyone interested in conservation, the natural world & tigers.Will post an update when I've finished the book.Update 29 May - finished the book. I guess the outcome was inevitable, but the way the story was written really added to the suspense when the tiger was being tracked. I certainly have learned a lot about the inhabitants of this unforgiving place.

Dieses Buch ist nicht nur spannend sondern auch sehr informativ. Nachdem ich es gelesen habe, weiß ich, warum ich für den Tierschutzbund WWF spende. Allerdings erfährt man aus diesem Buch heraus auch eine Menge über sich selbst. Nämlich, dass man eigentlich viel zu wenig von den Zusammenhängen um uns herum und in der Welt weiß.Nicht nur für Jäger eine feine Lektüre.