The Tiger

“And this is precisely where the tension lies: Panthera tigris and Homo sapiens are actually very much a like, and we are drawn to many of the same things, if for slightly different reasons. Both of us demand large territories; both of us have prodigious appetites for meat; both of us require control over our living space and are prepared to defend it, and both of us have an enormous sense of entitlement to the resources around us. If a tiger can poach on another's territory, it probably will, and so, of course, will we. A key difference, however, is that tigers take only what they need.”I'm not going to try to tell you the last time I read an non-fiction book. I probably don't even know. But The Tiger, along with several other non-fiction books, had been on my to-read list for years, and with my slower reading the past couple of years, it occurred to me that my reading list had gotten more and more homogeneous. I also hadn't taken a book out from the library in really long time. This felt both like an appropriate change of pace, as well as interesting transition from my previous read [b:Aliens: Bug Hunt 31416104 Aliens Bug Hunt Jonathan Maberry https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474300660s/31416104.jpg 52265710].This book is phenomenal from beginning to end. It's a thrilling, terrifying and captivating story for one, and possesses rich, striking characters throughout. It has a narrative aspect to it that makes it extremely enjoyable to read. John Vaillant utilizes a both admirable and relatable main character in Yuri Trush, a tough, capable man with a gentle heart whose job is to protect tigers from poachers, and poachers from themselves. He takes a deep look into each of the tiger's victims - their lives, their friends, the mistakes that might have led to their deaths. He also helps you understand this tiger, and how and why an animal would start to see humans as an easy target.But this is about more than just a tiger. It's about the relationship between man and animal, between man and nature, and man and authority. Despite the book's tidy 300+ pages, Vaillant goes into the rich history of the region - Primorye, a lost land between Siberia and China - and it's people, a diverse group living in deep poverty. He discusses the spiritual and psychological hold the tiger has over these people who have such a deep but tenuous relationship with the forest - referred to as the taiga - around them. It is unfathomable in many ways that there are people who live in this environment with so little support. Vaillant paints a sympathetic but frustrating portrait of people who are forced into illegal poaching - essentially people strong-armed by poverty and state corruption to further strip the land that they so love in order to survive. Most fascinating of all is the tiger himself. I was unaware how intelligent tigers are, and not only that but...how petty. Though, as a friend pointed out to me, they are cats, so I shouldn't be surprised. Much of what Vaillant discusses in terms of interactions with tigers has a folkloric aspect, as much of it is anecdotal, but its no less fascinating. Stories such as the one of men who, after stealing some of a tiger's kill, found that they were unable to hunt anything for a year as the tiger kept ruining their traps or scaring off their game. There's the myths that people hold, which are not so much myths but damn good ideas that have a spiritual aspect to them - that if you do not cross a tiger, it will not cross you. That a man-eating tiger is liken to a cannibal - he's killing his own kind. The idea that animals who are so powerful, such expert hunters, also have a sophisticated theory of mind is kind terrifying. What's even more disorienting is that how we're somehow managing, just from our need to use and abuse the world around us, to rob the world of future generations of tigers.This isn't [b:Jaws 126232 Jaws Peter Benchley https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327958767s/126232.jpg 2318370], John Vaillant knows exactly what he's trying to accomplish here. While a man-eating tiger is monstrous in ways, Vaillant makes it clear this tiger was very much a product of his environment and his interactions with man. This isn't just about painting a portrait of a killer, or making heroes out of hunters. This is a plea to nurture and respect the world around us, even when it's terrifying (or if we think its bone dust as medicinal properties). The answers aren't simple - especially somewhere like Russia, where life can be short and brutal even without tiger attacks - but the message is clear. If we take care of this world, it takes care of us.

The Siberian Tiger - a misnomer, and the Amur Tiger would better describe its location. Primarily the Primorye region of far eastern Russia, a vast area which shares a very long border with Chinese Manchuria and a short border with North Korea.

This book tells the story of one Amur Tiger - one who turns maneater, one with a vengeful attitude.

This story could be told in about 50 pages, if told in a constant stream, and sticking to the events in question - but that is not what this book does. This book takes the story and spreads it thinly throughout the whole 300 pages, keeping the reader on tenterhooks, waiting for the next step. Mixed through the story is an eclectic collection of sidelines, backfills and speculations related to the many people involved in this story, this area of Russia, its history, Russian policy, and of course, tigers.

I enjoyed the supplementary information - for me it was all relevant enough, and interesting enough. It contained loads of interesting information specific to tigers, but was a also a little broader, bringing in similarities and differences between tigers and other animals - wolves, the Amur leopard, brown bears. There was a lot of specialist research on Amur tigers explained. There was also a lot about the people involved - very detailed biographies of, in some cases, their entire lives. This included the victims of the tiger, their families, other relevant people living in the same towns and the tiger hunting team members. This all added to the greater context, but was perhaps the one aspect that was taken a but far for me. Having said all that, I know other readers found there was too little of the story and too much of the context.

The story of the Amur tiger, its dwindling numbers at the hands of poachers and hunters (ethnic and indigenous Russians) who see them as competition is a sad one, which it appears will not end well. The long, easily penetrated border with China, the recent deforestation by loggers, the logging roads that make access much easier, and the demand for all parts of the tiger by Chinese smugglers with plenty of cash all see the Amur tiger heading the same way as other tiger subspecies that have gone extinct in recent memory - the Balinese, Javan and Caspian. Add to this the South China tiger which has not had a reliable sighting since 1990 (according to the book) and is now likely to be gone too.

Vaillant describes Chinese Manchuria as historically being ‘an ocean of trees', and a protective belt for wild animals in the taiga over the border. Now it is devoid of trees -every inch of arable land being utilised, where ‘seeing a magpie is an event'. Meanwhile the Chinese have taken to breeding tigers purely to provide for the demand for Chinese medicine - dressed up as a rehabilitation park aiming to release them to the wild - which of course never happens.

I won't share the outline of the story - other reviewers have done this, but I would recommend letting the book roll the story out for you, the suspense as it is teased out makes it all worthwhile.

4 stars