The wild population of tigers, estimated at 100,000 tigers around 1900, has declined to as few as 3,000 individuals today, with four of the eight originally designated tiger subspecies having become extinct in the wild. While numbers plummeted almost everywhere else in the vast range of tigers in Asia, the Russian population showed a remarkable opposite trend. At the start of the 1940’s the Amur tiger had been almost hunted to extinction in Russia with as few as 30 animals remaining. At this critical juncture the situation changed for the better when in 1947 Russia became the first country in the world to ban hunting of tigers. Hunting of the main prey species – ungulates – became restricted by an annual quota system. As a result of effective law enforcement, poaching of tigers became relatively rare and the Amur tiger made a remarkable recovery. In 2005 a full-range survey in Russia showed that the population had recovered to between 428 and 502 individuals (up from 415 to 476 in the previous 1996 count). Moreover, approximately 95% of the Amur tigers are part of one contiguous population, probably the largest in the world.

The Siberian Tiger Monitoring Program has released results indicating that Siberian tiger numbers are falling in the Russian Far East, primarily due to poaching and habitat degradation. The results can hopefully be used to improve conditions for tigers in Russia. Official estimates of Siberian tiger numbers in Russia come from full range surveys conducted only once every 10 years. The last such survey, conducted in 2005, revealed that 428-502 tigers resided in Russia. Yearly monitoring program was designed to act as an “early warning device” in case changes in the status of tigers occurred between full range surveys. In 2009, only 56 adult tigers were counted on 16 “early warning” survey units (in contrast to 115 tigers counted in 2005 at the same spots), representing a 40% decrease from the 12-year average.

For the first time ever, tiger numbers in the Russian Far East were estimated using remote cameras set in the forest to “capture” tigers automatically on film. Because the stripes of each tiger are unique, it is possible to differentiate and count tigers based on photographic evidence. Camera-trapping studies conducted in Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Zapovednik (SABZ) from 2006 to 2008 provided the basis for providing the most statistically robust estimates of tiger densities ever derived for the Amur tiger.

We often hear the statistics of how many tigers are lost to poachers each year. But what the statistics don’t tell us is the story behind each event, the life that each tiger lived up to that tragic moment when a poacher ended its life. Nor do we hear of the impact of that loss on those people who live close to and care most about these magnificent animals.  In 2001, Svetlana Soutyrina came to the village of Terney (base for the Siberian Tiger Project) from Siberia, and was instantly captivated by the region and its tigers. Over that past 8 years, she has worked for the WCS Siberian Tiger Project, and dedicated her life to the tigers she studies each day. Below is her personal account of the life and death of one such animal.