ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[peter]

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This book was translated from the German version (´Jagd in der Taiga´ - Das Bergland Buch, Salzburg, 1959). The English version, translated and adapted by M. Heron, was published in 1961. I got the English translation.

Aramilev was born and raised in the southern part of the Ural Mountains in the days of the Sovjet-Union. In those days, many hunted.

The book is a collection of hunting stories. Most are short, but ´On the Isle of Swans´ is longer. In this story, Aramilev wrote about a painter who lived on ´The Isle of Swans´. They talked about the damage caused by poachers. The painter´s friend was Ley Georgiyevich Kaplanov, Director of the Siudsichinsk National Park on the Caucasian coast. We know him as Lev Kaplanov, a gifted zoologist. The man who wrote ´Tiger, Elk and Red Deer´. Kaplanov was the man who possibly prevented the Amur tiger from extinction. He was killed by a poacher. A great tragedy.

Another longer story is ´A Journey to the Kuldur´. The president of a kolchoz (a large collective farm) well-known for its red deer, Dimitry Ivanich, was at a loss because the last stag of the herd had succumbed. They needed a new wild stag and all knew the party had to go a long way. The question was who would be able to find the salt-marsh on the upper reaches of the Kuldur (a tributuary of the Amur).

It was decided to contact Vandaga. His mother was a Nanai and his father an Udege (both numerically small East Asiatic races). He was a real son of the taiga (forest) who had left his tribe and crossed over to the right (southern) bank of the Amur. The reason he left his tribe was he had been banned for killing the tiger who had killed and eaten his dog. A capital sin.

Vandaga and his wife settled near the river Tudachese in Manchuria. There he was visited by misfortune. Marauding Tunguse killed his wife and son and plundered his property. He was wounded, but escaped. Later, he had gained a reputation as a brilliant hunter who visited the various Russian settlements at times.

The village hunter (Yerofey) and Aramilev contacted Vandaga. He agreed and took his dog. Although Aramilev led the party, it was Vandaga who took most decisions in the end.

The story very much compared to ´Dersu the Trapper´ (written by V.K. Arseniev) in that Vandaga saw every animal as a member of a specific tribe. To him, all animals and insect were ´people´. He saw them as his peers and treated them accordingly. The difference with other members of his former tribe was Vandaga had decided to hunt tigers as well. Because he had shot many (one or two every year for 46 years), he knew about their habits. Experienced tigers, for instance, tricked male red deer by calling them.

When the party reached the valley of the upper Kuldur, it was empty. The reason was tigers also knew about the salt-marsh. The one who had decided to visit the valley at the time they arrived was an experienced animal. Following the giant footprints, they came upon the remains of a red deer killed by the tiger, Vandaga concluded ´... Tiger kill red deer, eat little, go to sleep. Then wolves come, eat rest ... ´ (pp. 182).

The tiger knew about them already. It had sneaked up and laid down only ten paces from their hiding-place. That´s why the dog had snarled the previous night. ´ ... We must make tiger kaput, commissar´, Vandaga said. ´Then red deer will come to salt-marsh ... ´ (pp. 182).

The tiger apparently had similar ideas. The two hunters who decided to ambush the tiger were ambushed themselves. The only reason they survived was Yerofey, the village hunter. He had decided to follow them after all. It was he who shot the tiger. The tiger was a big one - ´Just look what a giant he is! I´d say he weighed fifteen poods ... `(pp. 186).

The Kuldur is just south of Lake Baikal, about a thousand miles west from the western border of Amur tigers today. A thousand miles in about 60-70 years only (...). The tiger was shot in August and my guess is it happened in the forties or fifties of the last century. Reply