Tigers Between Empires: The Improbable Return of Great Cats to the Forests of Russia and China

Wildlife biologist Slaght (Owls of the Eastern Ice) delivers a captivating account of the Siberian Tiger Project, a multi-decade collaborative effort among American and Russian scientists to study and protect Siberian tigers. Human settlements and hunting practices caused rapid decline in the Siberian tiger populations in Russia and China in the 19th and 20th centuries, Slaght explains. The initial aim of the Tiger Project, launched in the 1990s, was to capture, collar, and monitor tigers in the Russian Far East using radio signals. It was a difficult task: scientists dealt with primitive living conditions, brutal cold, malfunctioning equipment, struggles for funding, and a language barrier, as well as the challenge of finding a tiger; an adult male can routinely patrol an area the size of New York City. Slaght sketches an empathetic portrait of these intrepid researchers as well as the imperiled creatures they studied. Among the latter are Olga, the first tiger collared, who was monitored for 13 years, longer than any other tiger in the world, and Zolushka, an emaciated orphaned cub who was painstakingly rehabilitated and successfully returned to the wild. Slaght brings their stories to life on the page with vivid detail and suspense. The result is a hopeful celebration of the fight to save a vulnerable species. (Nov.)