The Snare for tiger (beginning)
Русская версия: Проект «Амурский тигр» или «Чума на оба ваши дома…» (начало).
Translated by Alexey Bizin
Correction by Vladimir Dinets & Sergey Kolchin
«... I request from you and from entire Moscow zoological community
to help me to stop capturing of tigers in the Reserve»*
(From the L.G.Kaplanov's** letter to A.N.Formozov on January 25th, 1940)
The Snare for tiger
The Project Wildlife Conservation Society “Amur Tiger” has been taking place in Sikhote Alinskiy biosphere nature Reserve (north-eastern part of Primorye, Russian Far East) since 1992. The Project includes capturing tigers with the use of Aldrich foot snare for further immobilization and equipping them with radio or GPS collars. Aldrich foot snare is a steel device made of 8mm rod, spring and big screw bolts. The trap is set in a small hollow on the trail that the animal uses; it is attached to a tree and is thoroughly disguised. When the animal steps on a spring, the loop catches its foot. When the tiger is trapped he starts to throw himself and bite the metal device. As a result, tigers seriously injure their paws and teeth, and it usually later results in their death. Russian zoologists started using this snare as well in 2008.
Dalnauka Publishing House (Vladivostok) has published a monograph Diseases and Parasites of Wildlife in Siberia and the Russian Far East under the editorship of I.V. Seryodkin and D.G. Miquelle. Dr. Seryodkin is an associate professor and acting Head of Laboratory in Pacific Institute of Geography, Far-Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Science. Dr. D. G. Miquelle is the director of WCS Russia [1]. Pages 108-117 of the book contain a chapter titled “Tooth breakage in tigers: cause for conflict?” [2]. The authors of the chapter are members of “Amur Tiger” Project launched by WCS: D.M. Goodrich, I.V. Seryodkin, D.G. Miquelle, L.L. Kerley, H.B. Quigley, M.G. Hornocker. They try to address the criticism of WCS centered on dangerous entrapment techniques which often harm animals and consequently provoke aggression towards humans [3..6]. They try to prove this wrong by substantiating their work with studies of 46 tigers caught by Aldrich foot snares. Notably, they discuss only dental injuries, and more specifically “… on injured canines with necrotic pulp and open apex; other teeth are beyond the scope of this research”. Limb injuries are not mentioned at all, while it is intuitive to expect this kind of damage after being caught by paw-catching steel snare.
The conclusions derived from the research are hardly unexpected considering the affiliation of the authors:
Only two tigers, or 3.7% out of total, turned out to have injured their teeth during the trapping sessions carried out by WCS. Let’s look at the case of a big male tiger caught by WCS in early November 2006 in south-western Primorye (Khasanskiy District). Few days after being caught the tiger was surrounded and shot by hunters who did a game drive while hunting ungulates. The tiger was found near a killed boar and attacked a local hunter. There were two accounts of the case; one claimed that the tiger was shot prior to the attack, while the other claimed that the tiger attacked first. Anyhow, this tiger had been recorded in the area for ten years, never got caught before the incident, and never had conflicts with humans. Game drive is a usual business in Amur tiger habitat. Apparently, the tiger avoided the hunters all his life until this unfortunate day, which brings the question: was the death of the tiger accidental or was the animal inclined to find itself in a situation of high risk and insecurity. The shot tiger had major external damages caused by recent trapping. There were broken canines and paws cut by Aldrich snare, as acknowledged by WCS members. In this particular case there was no chance to cover up the injuries, because the corpse of the tiger was inspected by a third party. Which tiger with dental injuries was officially the second one mentioned out of the total sample is unknown.
So what was going on with other tigers? Were the two tigers mentioned by WCS the only ones which injured the teeth while being caught by Aldrich snares? The teeth of the first tiger were completely destroyed (Fig. 1). Were the other tigers of different kind? Did they lay down calmly waiting to get a dose of tranquillizer? Sure! This is what WCS members claim in their book. We consider that book extremely simplistic and biased, since it claims that tigers with dental problems hunt down bigger prey (the difference is valued about 3kg or 6.6 lbs), successfully reproduce and do not interfere with people. One might think that tigers don’t need canines at all. To support their conclusions, Goodrich et al. compare African lions to tigers, not taking into account totally different ecology, social structure and range patterns. They point out that “Dental injuries caused by trapping were detected only twice”. Interestingly, they also mention that over 70% of trapped tigers were later killed by poachers.
Figure 1. Skull of the male tiger which injured his teeth in the course of trapping by WCS in Khasanskiy District of Primorye in Nov, 2006 (Courtesy of Galina Salkina)
The publication was written solely by WCS members, an interested party in this case, which might have reasons to cover up the negative consequences of its activities.
Below is the testimony of Dr. Sergey Kolchin (research assistant of Laboratory of Ecology of animals in Institute of Water and Ecology Problems, Far-Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Science):
I participated in “Amur Tiger” Project from October 2007 until March 2009. On October 14, 2007, a few days before my arrival, WCS members Nikolay Rybin and John Paczkowski caught a big male tiger in Dzhigitovka basin (river Kuruma, source Zhadonok, Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve). The animal was initially spotted by Sergey Scherbonos, the inspector of the Reserve. The tiger was named Sergey and received ID number 85. The predator was immobilized and given the radio collar. Ivan Seryodkin, Field Coordinator of the Project, showed me the photos of the caught tiger. The left paw was severely deformed and almost torn off by Aldrich snare. Steel string cut the skin, muscles and ligaments all around the wrist. The tiger tried to pull his paw out of the snare multiple times, which lead to turning his skin and flesh inside out like a sock. The wrist being pulled over by the snare swelled to the size of soccer ball. Presumably, tissue necrosis was to follow shortly. Upper right canine was broken at the base, and there were multiple dents in other teeth. Apparently, the animal struggled in the trap for many hours, damaging its paw and suffering terrible pain. When I asked Seryodkin how serious the injuries were, he answered something like “It’s no big deal. He’ll lick his wounds and get over it”. When I opened the table summarizing the data on all WCS-examined tigers, I discovered the following remark on this tiger in the appropriate cell. “No wounds and injuries”.
Images taken by photo traps in different parts of the Reserve revealed that tiger Sergey was a resident of Dzhigitovka River area, the coastline and river Serebryanka running in central part of the Reserve (Fig. 2). Unfortunately it did not last long after being trapped. On November 7 he got caught again, three weeks after the initial entrapment. The tiger was in dismal condition and deeply exhausted. The wound on the paw was even more swollen. Obviously, he didn’t manage to “get over it”.
Figure 2 (clickable). Tiger Sergey (# 85) one month before he was injured by Aldrich snare. The picture was taken by WCS photo trap on Sep, 9, 2007 in Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve
This time the tiger did not rage in the snare; apparently, he did not have enough energy. He stepped into the trap with his healthy leg. I did not take part in trapping, although I was a witness of the WCS discussion spurred by the second trapping and photos taken. I can recall the words of John Paczkowski, who insisted on immediate halt to trapping, which was the cause of the tiger’s death. Dr. Paczkowski understood the consequences of applying study framework. All Aldrich snares were removed from the area, but the damage was already done.
A few days later we received a weak signal from Sergey’s radio collar coming out of Kuruma-Kunaleyka watershed. After that we got no data on him for a long time. In December Nikolay Rybin and me conducted an inspection flight over the Reserve using AN-2 airplane. Sergey’s radio collar signaled from the valley of Yeloviy creek in upper Serebryanka river basin, which is in the heart of the Reserve. To get to that point on foot, we needed a few days. When I started working for the Project such long hikes were not encouraged. The Project had been running for 15 years by that time. Since the start of the Project the tigers had become a trivial spectacle for the crew. Traditionally the animals were trapped along the Terney-Plastun highway, and nobody travelled up to Serebryanka River. Perhaps the field coordinator had his own reasons. Searching for Sergey was postponed indefinitely. Next time we made a flight over the Reserve in Feb, 2008. The tiger, or should I say the remains of the tiger, were on the very same spot. I offered Seryodkin to take a trip to Yeloviy multiple times, but every time my offers were rejected with different explanations. It became obvious to me that I had to “forget” Sergey for a while.
We monitored two mature female tigers which had radio collars. They were named Vera (#55) and Galya (#56). Vera wandered around river Kuruma (Dzhigitovka watershed) most of the time, but sometimes appeared closer to the coastline on river Kunaleyka. Galya along with her three maturing cubs occupied a neighboring area on the seashore. Spring-summer trapping session of 2008 was organized in the same area. Galya was caught twice previously, in 2002 and 2005. Probably thanks to this experience she managed to avoid the traps, but her cubs were not so lucky. One of her cubs named Ivan (#88) got caught on May 3. When asked about its health, Seryodkin confirmed it was normal besides a minor dent on a canine. Ivan’s brother was caught on May 23 and named Clay (#89) after Clay Miller, the new member of the Project. I was checking the tiger traps occasionally since I was assigned to look after bears and Vera. I was kindly provided the photos of the caught tiger Clay by his “godfather” Clay Miller and Erin Latham, a Canadian who came to Terney to study bears. Lower left canine was broken down to the gum, the wound was bleeding heavily. Notably all Project members headed by Dale Miquelle rushed to the trapping site once they received the message from Seryodkin. For some reason I was not informed on that and spent my day in an empty office. Perhaps the reason I was not informed by my colleagues was my questions about the consequences of trapping for tiger health. I won’t speculate further on Clay’s case. Later I was told by WCS members that Clay had removed the radio collar by himself on the outskirts of Terney in early August.
A notorious case of a tiger escaping the trap and assaulting a human emerged around that time. Mr Seryodkin was the target of the tiger charge. So, here is my version of the event based on my own observations. On Jun, 17, 2008 members of the Project Ivan Seryodkin and Vladimir Melnikov arrived to Blagodatnaya Bay in the morning. They were supposed to check the area near the bay, and Melnikov was to travel further to Golubichnaya Bay, which was another trapping location. He was supposed to meet Nikolay Rybin there. Melnikov and Seryodkin found a big tiger caught in one of the traps. Melnikov walked around the tiger and continued his trip to Golubichnaya Bay sticking to the initial plan. Seryodkin was left alone, that’s why he had to leave the spot and call the help from Terney. After we got his call, a group of eight arrived to Blagodatnaya Bay. We stopped 100 meters before the trapping spot. Once the immobilization gear was ready, four people approached the tiger. First in the line was Seryodkin with a gun (he was assigned to make a shot with tranquillizer), I was the second one (my duty was to distract this tiger so Seryodkin could make a sharp shot), Dale Miquelle was the third; the fourth in the line was Clay Miller. We cautiously approached the tiger about 30 meters. The predator had his right side to us, and it seemed he was taking care of his paw. The next moment he noticed us and furiously charged the group. Most likely the snare binding broke at that moment but we didn’t realize it yet. Seryodkin started running to the left side from the trail while the rest of us started hand flares. The tiger was definitely after the person who broke away from the group. The animal knocked down and started to bite Seryodkin. All of this took just a second. The tiger was scared of burning hand flares; that’s why he soon gave up on Seryodkin and ran away towards the seashore. He obviously could kill the man, but didn’t do it. We applied first aid to Seryodkin and sent him to Terney hospital by car. His shoulder was bitten through and the left wrist was injured. Meanwhile we arrived at the office of Reserve to write a report on the incident. After that three of us returned to the scene along with the Security Head of Reserve Vitaliy Sosedov.
The examination of the scene revealed that the steel string was not torn. As the consequence of the powerful charge the metal tube used for attaching the steel string to the swivel and to the tree was broken. The tiger left the scene with the steel snare on his leg. Coil string was bent in multiple sections, the steel string had been chewed on. Also I found a 3-cm (1.2 inches) piece of a canine covered with blood. Later Dale Miqulle urged me to throw away the piece and not tell anybody about this finding (Fig. 3). We found a gun with a bent barrel and an unused hand flare on the spot where the tiger knocked the man down. Tranquillizer shot hit the ground and did not reach the tiger.
Figure 3 (clickable). Tiger Ivan’s (#90) broken canine piece. The tiger broke the snare during trapping by WCS, Jun, 17, 2008, Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve, Blagodatnaya Bay surroundings (Courtesy of Sergey Kolchin)
Members of the Project checked the memory stick in Seryodkin’s camera. It revealed that Seryodkin had conducted a photo session before his colleagues came to the spot. The pictures showed tiger’s eyes filled with fright and ears pulled back. The predator wisely avoided humans all his life and watched them only from afar, but now he stood in fright and shame in front of the man circling around him to find a better camera angle. Seryodkin stopped only after a couple hundred pictures were made.
This tiger (later named Ivan) was a resident of the area containing Dzhigitovka basin and the seashore. He shared this space with tiger Sergey (Sergey’s grievous story was provided earlier in the text). From the onset of winter he was left alone in the area because of Sergey’s death. Ivan managed a miraculous escape from the trap and turned loose the snare around his paw. We were able to track this tiger using his paw prints around river Kuruma basin, not to mention the pictures made by photo traps. Tigress Vera with her two cubs also wandered around. Perhaps Ivan was the father of the cubs. Tiger Ivan remained neutral to humans. Meanwhile WCS was eager to save something else.
Searching for Sergey’s radio collar was begun only in late Sep, 2008, when the dust settled after Seryodkin’s incident. Nobody was interested in bringing to the spotlight another dead tiger. Actually the corpse of the tiger and the new radio collar remained by Yeloviy source since November or December of 2007 (almost a year). Sergey’s death reveals that not all starving and dying tigers approach human habitation for easy catch. Sergey limped to a secluded spot where he died quietly. Nikoly Rybin and John Paczkowski collected Sergey’s skull (Fig. 4). Obviously it was not possible to state the real cause of death which occurred almost 10 months ago. What a lucky coincidence for WCS members who proclaimed death by natural causes. Administration of Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve and specifically Anatoliy Astafyev often report such incidents to the WCS, but the situation always gets back to usual.
Figure 4 (clickable). Tiger Sergey’s (#85) skull and radio collar found by WCS members in late Sep, 2008 by the source Yeloviy of river Serebryanka in Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve. The tiger died in Nov-Dec, 2007, just after being caught with Aldrich snare (Courtesy of Sergey Kolchin)
* * * * *
Tiger Ivan was caught again on Oct, 27, 2009 around “Ust-Shanduy” outpost (Zabolochennaya River). Sergey Kolchin had already quitted the Project by then. As Mr Seryodkin disclosed on official web page of WCS local branch [7]: “we have known tiger Ivan for a while, because of multiple pictures taken by photo traps in different parts of Reserve. The photo traps were installed by trailways and trees marked by tiger. Territory controlled by this tiger is unusually large. No less than six mature tigresses also inhabit this area”. Interestingly enough, this info had been disclosed on the official web page only on Feb, 9, 2010.
Three weeks before that on January 15, 2010 in the vicinity of village Artemovo on Serebryanka river, tiger Ivan had killed a local fisherman. Next day the predator was shot by EMERCOM officers. The left paw was heavily injured, the tiger suffered from high degree debilitation. This case was brought into spotlight by different media and investigated in details by the late local journalist Evgeniy Suvorov [8].
Project members stated that tiger Ivan moved around actively and had no health issues after entrapment. This statement was based only on radio signals, which of course raises questions. Deep cuts up to the elbow joint and gnawed autopodium with a dactyl completely bitten off (Fig. 5-8) were detected. The WCS employees commented on the injuries: “…apparently the tiger got in fight with another tiger or a bear”. Veterinarians of Primorskaya State Academy of Agriculture affirmed that view. The corpses of dead tigers have been sent for autopsy examination to Primorskaya State Academy of Agriculture since 2007. Unfortunately employees of this establishment lack the knowledge of big predators’ behavior in the wild, causes and consequences of different injuries. Also, their view is biased towards the official view of WCS employees. This bias arises from WCS sponsorship for workshops on diseases of wild animals and training abroad provided for faculty members.
Figure 5 (clickable). The corpse of tiger Ivan, which was trapped by WCS twice and killed a local villager 2.5 months after the last entrapment (Source: WCS)
Figures 6-7. Tiger Ivan’s injuries caused by Aldrich trap
Figure 8 (clickable). Left mandible canine is gone as it was lost during the first entrapmnet (Picture 3). Left maxillary canine is broken (Source: WCS)
It takes some really imaginative thinking and lack of knowledge on hunting behavior of predators to picture a tiger or a bear chewing off a rival’s paw and simultaneously exposing itself to a deadly bite through the neck or skull base.
The picture clearly shows green cuts from Aldrich trap. Agonizing tiger bit off its own dactyl. Hairless areas are the effects of severe avitaminosis in this case, which is also observed throughout ungulate population during periods of abundant snow. Heavy parasite load that was detected is also a consequence of avitaminosis [9]. We doubt that veterinarians and specialists working for WCS were not aware of these facts, not to mention the broken canines. All these symptoms emerged and were aggravated after using the Aldrich trap. Most likely, as pain intensified, the tiger survived on whatever he was able to pick up - carrion or scraps from other predators’ kills. All these symptoms are secondary by nature, they are the results but not the causes of the rapid health decline. Photos of Ivan before its entrapment show that he was in a good shape (Fig. 9-10).
Figure 9 (clickable). Tiger Ivan 2 weeks before entrapment in October 2009. The animal is in a good shape and well-fed. The photo was taken by WCS photo trap on Oct 13, 2009 (Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve)
Figure 10 (clickable). Tiger Ivan 50 days after entrapment and 25 days before his death. The tiger is emaciated. Left paw is severely cut, with little finger missing. Apparently, the tiger walks on three legs. The photo was taken by WCS photo trap on Dec 21, 2009 (Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve)
The other argument on Aldrich traps’ harmlessness was the presumed mating with tigress Galya 10 days before Ivan’s death. This info was brought up by Mr Dale Miquelle, WCS-Russia director, during a meeting on tiger monitoring, which took place in the office of Special Inspectorate “Tiger” in late October of 2010. Ivan could meet Galya at that time, but we doubt he could mate with her. Tigress Galya gave birth to cubs in the beginning of May, which means she was impregnated in mid-January. At that time mating with Galya was unlikely for Ivan, since he was suffering and was spotted wandering around village Terney.
When we analyze Ivan’s action sequence around the body of the killed man, it doesn’t look like the usual behavior of man-eater animals. The tiger didn’t satisfy his hunger the common way. All he could do was bite off the fingers and some skin from the head of the victim. After that he left the man’s body lying and went nearby on road and attacked cars. On top of total debilitation, pathological psychotic change had emerged. If he didn’t die that day, most likely he would die in the near future.
A special WCS commission was established in Vladivostok to analyze this case. They represented the deaths of the man and the tiger as random events. According to them, it was all the tiger’s fault. No wonder!
The Head of the Project “Amur Tiger” as well as junior members should have conducted a real investigation. A loss of a tiger is usual business (it’s a pity, but it happens quite often), but human death is extraordinary. Instead, they blamed the tiger for everything.
Meanwhile, the work of “tiger defenders” continued with no change in the routine.
Bones of tigress Vera were found under the snow soon after Ivan’s death. She died under uncertain circumstances, but the official statement was “natural causes”. Her corpse was in the woods for almost two months and nobody from Project appeared there despite the radio signal coming from the very same spot all that time. Furthermore, the members of the Project had to trap tigress Galya because the battery in her collar was almost dead. This tigress managed to recognize Aldrich traps on her trailways and avoid it. It’s not really an obstacle for WCS, because they have tested for a long time other technique: run the tiger down by helicopter and then immobilize it.
Tigers are not tireless hunters. Usually a tiger chases its prey for up to 150 m (around 500 feet), then it needs a rest [10..12]. Low stamina of tigers is caused by low oxygen factor in their muscle system, which in turn is caused by low myoglobine in the muscles. Low myoglobine generates vast amount of lactic acid and consequently fatigue during rapid charges. The proportion of heart and lungs for a tiger is 1.5-2 times lower than the same proportion for a wolf, a fox, or a raccoon dog [9].
Imagine the stress a tiger is subjected to when chased by a helicopter. Some readers have probably seen the documentary “Tigers of the snow” by National Geographic Society. That movie is about the same “Amur Tiger” Project. In one episode, a chased tiger climbs up a tree trying to reach and attack the helicopter… and gets its dose of tranquilizer. Mr Dale Miquelle published the story “The replacement of radio collar for tigress Galya” [13] on http://www.wcsrussia.org/, in which he describes the 2-day (!!) chase of the poor animal with Russian helicopter MI-8. On first day, she moved 8 km (about 5 miles) deep into the Reserve area. One can see on the photos that there was a lot of snow which is a natural obstacle and a fatigue factor for the tiger, not to mention hypothermia. Lung frostbite and heart hyperfunction are likely consequences of such a chase. Anyhow, the tigress was immobilized. The pictures from the published story showed good shape of Galya, she was well-fed. Mr Miquelle underlined she had intact canines despite her age (8 years), as females are usually more calm when getting caught by the trap.
Getting back to tigress Galya… A month after the helicopter chase, Galya gave birth to three cubs in a den, soon to be found by WCS members [14]. It’s a well-known fact that a tigress moves the litter or simply abandons it if a human is detected near the den. Usually the older cubs are getting moved, the younger ones die. WCS stated [15] that Galya didn’t leave the cubs and returned to the den in the next 11 days. However, the scientists detected gaps of up to two days when Galya did not appear nearby. This was likely the result of Galya having major health problems after the helicopter chase. It’s also probable that the cubs could have been affected by the chase prior to birth. Finally the cubs died. A week later Galya moved to the area around a military base located not far from Terney village (May, 25). She exposed herself to people and finally wandered into the village. On Jun 1 she was shot. WCS announced that she was very exhausted. And the common WCS arguments were once again in place: “… We assume the main cause of all the recent cases may be the disease. We’re concerned that the area experiences an outbreak… there’s no evidence that entrapment technique or radio collars being used negatively influence the tigers. If they did, we could have detected this fact earlier…” [15].
So, what mysterious disease is killing the tigers of Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve???
( read the ending )
Originally published at BIGCATS.RU Forums. You can comment here or there.
Translated by Alexey Bizin
Correction by Vladimir Dinets & Sergey Kolchin
«... I request from you and from entire Moscow zoological community
to help me to stop capturing of tigers in the Reserve»*
(From the L.G.Kaplanov's** letter to A.N.Formozov on January 25th, 1940)
The Snare for tiger
The Project Wildlife Conservation Society “Amur Tiger” has been taking place in Sikhote Alinskiy biosphere nature Reserve (north-eastern part of Primorye, Russian Far East) since 1992. The Project includes capturing tigers with the use of Aldrich foot snare for further immobilization and equipping them with radio or GPS collars. Aldrich foot snare is a steel device made of 8mm rod, spring and big screw bolts. The trap is set in a small hollow on the trail that the animal uses; it is attached to a tree and is thoroughly disguised. When the animal steps on a spring, the loop catches its foot. When the tiger is trapped he starts to throw himself and bite the metal device. As a result, tigers seriously injure their paws and teeth, and it usually later results in their death. Russian zoologists started using this snare as well in 2008.
Dalnauka Publishing House (Vladivostok) has published a monograph Diseases and Parasites of Wildlife in Siberia and the Russian Far East under the editorship of I.V. Seryodkin and D.G. Miquelle. Dr. Seryodkin is an associate professor and acting Head of Laboratory in Pacific Institute of Geography, Far-Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Science. Dr. D. G. Miquelle is the director of WCS Russia [1]. Pages 108-117 of the book contain a chapter titled “Tooth breakage in tigers: cause for conflict?” [2]. The authors of the chapter are members of “Amur Tiger” Project launched by WCS: D.M. Goodrich, I.V. Seryodkin, D.G. Miquelle, L.L. Kerley, H.B. Quigley, M.G. Hornocker. They try to address the criticism of WCS centered on dangerous entrapment techniques which often harm animals and consequently provoke aggression towards humans [3..6]. They try to prove this wrong by substantiating their work with studies of 46 tigers caught by Aldrich foot snares. Notably, they discuss only dental injuries, and more specifically “… on injured canines with necrotic pulp and open apex; other teeth are beyond the scope of this research”. Limb injuries are not mentioned at all, while it is intuitive to expect this kind of damage after being caught by paw-catching steel snare.
The conclusions derived from the research are hardly unexpected considering the affiliation of the authors:
- Dental injuries are rare when using Aldrich snare.
- Broken canines do not significantly influence fertility, survival or hunting abilities.
- Most of the “tiger aggression” cases have nothing to do with broken canines.
Only two tigers, or 3.7% out of total, turned out to have injured their teeth during the trapping sessions carried out by WCS. Let’s look at the case of a big male tiger caught by WCS in early November 2006 in south-western Primorye (Khasanskiy District). Few days after being caught the tiger was surrounded and shot by hunters who did a game drive while hunting ungulates. The tiger was found near a killed boar and attacked a local hunter. There were two accounts of the case; one claimed that the tiger was shot prior to the attack, while the other claimed that the tiger attacked first. Anyhow, this tiger had been recorded in the area for ten years, never got caught before the incident, and never had conflicts with humans. Game drive is a usual business in Amur tiger habitat. Apparently, the tiger avoided the hunters all his life until this unfortunate day, which brings the question: was the death of the tiger accidental or was the animal inclined to find itself in a situation of high risk and insecurity. The shot tiger had major external damages caused by recent trapping. There were broken canines and paws cut by Aldrich snare, as acknowledged by WCS members. In this particular case there was no chance to cover up the injuries, because the corpse of the tiger was inspected by a third party. Which tiger with dental injuries was officially the second one mentioned out of the total sample is unknown.
So what was going on with other tigers? Were the two tigers mentioned by WCS the only ones which injured the teeth while being caught by Aldrich snares? The teeth of the first tiger were completely destroyed (Fig. 1). Were the other tigers of different kind? Did they lay down calmly waiting to get a dose of tranquillizer? Sure! This is what WCS members claim in their book. We consider that book extremely simplistic and biased, since it claims that tigers with dental problems hunt down bigger prey (the difference is valued about 3kg or 6.6 lbs), successfully reproduce and do not interfere with people. One might think that tigers don’t need canines at all. To support their conclusions, Goodrich et al. compare African lions to tigers, not taking into account totally different ecology, social structure and range patterns. They point out that “Dental injuries caused by trapping were detected only twice”. Interestingly, they also mention that over 70% of trapped tigers were later killed by poachers.
Figure 1. Skull of the male tiger which injured his teeth in the course of trapping by WCS in Khasanskiy District of Primorye in Nov, 2006 (Courtesy of Galina Salkina)
The publication was written solely by WCS members, an interested party in this case, which might have reasons to cover up the negative consequences of its activities.
Below is the testimony of Dr. Sergey Kolchin (research assistant of Laboratory of Ecology of animals in Institute of Water and Ecology Problems, Far-Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Science):
I participated in “Amur Tiger” Project from October 2007 until March 2009. On October 14, 2007, a few days before my arrival, WCS members Nikolay Rybin and John Paczkowski caught a big male tiger in Dzhigitovka basin (river Kuruma, source Zhadonok, Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve). The animal was initially spotted by Sergey Scherbonos, the inspector of the Reserve. The tiger was named Sergey and received ID number 85. The predator was immobilized and given the radio collar. Ivan Seryodkin, Field Coordinator of the Project, showed me the photos of the caught tiger. The left paw was severely deformed and almost torn off by Aldrich snare. Steel string cut the skin, muscles and ligaments all around the wrist. The tiger tried to pull his paw out of the snare multiple times, which lead to turning his skin and flesh inside out like a sock. The wrist being pulled over by the snare swelled to the size of soccer ball. Presumably, tissue necrosis was to follow shortly. Upper right canine was broken at the base, and there were multiple dents in other teeth. Apparently, the animal struggled in the trap for many hours, damaging its paw and suffering terrible pain. When I asked Seryodkin how serious the injuries were, he answered something like “It’s no big deal. He’ll lick his wounds and get over it”. When I opened the table summarizing the data on all WCS-examined tigers, I discovered the following remark on this tiger in the appropriate cell. “No wounds and injuries”.
Images taken by photo traps in different parts of the Reserve revealed that tiger Sergey was a resident of Dzhigitovka River area, the coastline and river Serebryanka running in central part of the Reserve (Fig. 2). Unfortunately it did not last long after being trapped. On November 7 he got caught again, three weeks after the initial entrapment. The tiger was in dismal condition and deeply exhausted. The wound on the paw was even more swollen. Obviously, he didn’t manage to “get over it”.
Figure 2 (clickable). Tiger Sergey (# 85) one month before he was injured by Aldrich snare. The picture was taken by WCS photo trap on Sep, 9, 2007 in Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve
This time the tiger did not rage in the snare; apparently, he did not have enough energy. He stepped into the trap with his healthy leg. I did not take part in trapping, although I was a witness of the WCS discussion spurred by the second trapping and photos taken. I can recall the words of John Paczkowski, who insisted on immediate halt to trapping, which was the cause of the tiger’s death. Dr. Paczkowski understood the consequences of applying study framework. All Aldrich snares were removed from the area, but the damage was already done.
A few days later we received a weak signal from Sergey’s radio collar coming out of Kuruma-Kunaleyka watershed. After that we got no data on him for a long time. In December Nikolay Rybin and me conducted an inspection flight over the Reserve using AN-2 airplane. Sergey’s radio collar signaled from the valley of Yeloviy creek in upper Serebryanka river basin, which is in the heart of the Reserve. To get to that point on foot, we needed a few days. When I started working for the Project such long hikes were not encouraged. The Project had been running for 15 years by that time. Since the start of the Project the tigers had become a trivial spectacle for the crew. Traditionally the animals were trapped along the Terney-Plastun highway, and nobody travelled up to Serebryanka River. Perhaps the field coordinator had his own reasons. Searching for Sergey was postponed indefinitely. Next time we made a flight over the Reserve in Feb, 2008. The tiger, or should I say the remains of the tiger, were on the very same spot. I offered Seryodkin to take a trip to Yeloviy multiple times, but every time my offers were rejected with different explanations. It became obvious to me that I had to “forget” Sergey for a while.
We monitored two mature female tigers which had radio collars. They were named Vera (#55) and Galya (#56). Vera wandered around river Kuruma (Dzhigitovka watershed) most of the time, but sometimes appeared closer to the coastline on river Kunaleyka. Galya along with her three maturing cubs occupied a neighboring area on the seashore. Spring-summer trapping session of 2008 was organized in the same area. Galya was caught twice previously, in 2002 and 2005. Probably thanks to this experience she managed to avoid the traps, but her cubs were not so lucky. One of her cubs named Ivan (#88) got caught on May 3. When asked about its health, Seryodkin confirmed it was normal besides a minor dent on a canine. Ivan’s brother was caught on May 23 and named Clay (#89) after Clay Miller, the new member of the Project. I was checking the tiger traps occasionally since I was assigned to look after bears and Vera. I was kindly provided the photos of the caught tiger Clay by his “godfather” Clay Miller and Erin Latham, a Canadian who came to Terney to study bears. Lower left canine was broken down to the gum, the wound was bleeding heavily. Notably all Project members headed by Dale Miquelle rushed to the trapping site once they received the message from Seryodkin. For some reason I was not informed on that and spent my day in an empty office. Perhaps the reason I was not informed by my colleagues was my questions about the consequences of trapping for tiger health. I won’t speculate further on Clay’s case. Later I was told by WCS members that Clay had removed the radio collar by himself on the outskirts of Terney in early August.
A notorious case of a tiger escaping the trap and assaulting a human emerged around that time. Mr Seryodkin was the target of the tiger charge. So, here is my version of the event based on my own observations. On Jun, 17, 2008 members of the Project Ivan Seryodkin and Vladimir Melnikov arrived to Blagodatnaya Bay in the morning. They were supposed to check the area near the bay, and Melnikov was to travel further to Golubichnaya Bay, which was another trapping location. He was supposed to meet Nikolay Rybin there. Melnikov and Seryodkin found a big tiger caught in one of the traps. Melnikov walked around the tiger and continued his trip to Golubichnaya Bay sticking to the initial plan. Seryodkin was left alone, that’s why he had to leave the spot and call the help from Terney. After we got his call, a group of eight arrived to Blagodatnaya Bay. We stopped 100 meters before the trapping spot. Once the immobilization gear was ready, four people approached the tiger. First in the line was Seryodkin with a gun (he was assigned to make a shot with tranquillizer), I was the second one (my duty was to distract this tiger so Seryodkin could make a sharp shot), Dale Miquelle was the third; the fourth in the line was Clay Miller. We cautiously approached the tiger about 30 meters. The predator had his right side to us, and it seemed he was taking care of his paw. The next moment he noticed us and furiously charged the group. Most likely the snare binding broke at that moment but we didn’t realize it yet. Seryodkin started running to the left side from the trail while the rest of us started hand flares. The tiger was definitely after the person who broke away from the group. The animal knocked down and started to bite Seryodkin. All of this took just a second. The tiger was scared of burning hand flares; that’s why he soon gave up on Seryodkin and ran away towards the seashore. He obviously could kill the man, but didn’t do it. We applied first aid to Seryodkin and sent him to Terney hospital by car. His shoulder was bitten through and the left wrist was injured. Meanwhile we arrived at the office of Reserve to write a report on the incident. After that three of us returned to the scene along with the Security Head of Reserve Vitaliy Sosedov.
The examination of the scene revealed that the steel string was not torn. As the consequence of the powerful charge the metal tube used for attaching the steel string to the swivel and to the tree was broken. The tiger left the scene with the steel snare on his leg. Coil string was bent in multiple sections, the steel string had been chewed on. Also I found a 3-cm (1.2 inches) piece of a canine covered with blood. Later Dale Miqulle urged me to throw away the piece and not tell anybody about this finding (Fig. 3). We found a gun with a bent barrel and an unused hand flare on the spot where the tiger knocked the man down. Tranquillizer shot hit the ground and did not reach the tiger.
Figure 3 (clickable). Tiger Ivan’s (#90) broken canine piece. The tiger broke the snare during trapping by WCS, Jun, 17, 2008, Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve, Blagodatnaya Bay surroundings (Courtesy of Sergey Kolchin)
Members of the Project checked the memory stick in Seryodkin’s camera. It revealed that Seryodkin had conducted a photo session before his colleagues came to the spot. The pictures showed tiger’s eyes filled with fright and ears pulled back. The predator wisely avoided humans all his life and watched them only from afar, but now he stood in fright and shame in front of the man circling around him to find a better camera angle. Seryodkin stopped only after a couple hundred pictures were made.
This tiger (later named Ivan) was a resident of the area containing Dzhigitovka basin and the seashore. He shared this space with tiger Sergey (Sergey’s grievous story was provided earlier in the text). From the onset of winter he was left alone in the area because of Sergey’s death. Ivan managed a miraculous escape from the trap and turned loose the snare around his paw. We were able to track this tiger using his paw prints around river Kuruma basin, not to mention the pictures made by photo traps. Tigress Vera with her two cubs also wandered around. Perhaps Ivan was the father of the cubs. Tiger Ivan remained neutral to humans. Meanwhile WCS was eager to save something else.
Searching for Sergey’s radio collar was begun only in late Sep, 2008, when the dust settled after Seryodkin’s incident. Nobody was interested in bringing to the spotlight another dead tiger. Actually the corpse of the tiger and the new radio collar remained by Yeloviy source since November or December of 2007 (almost a year). Sergey’s death reveals that not all starving and dying tigers approach human habitation for easy catch. Sergey limped to a secluded spot where he died quietly. Nikoly Rybin and John Paczkowski collected Sergey’s skull (Fig. 4). Obviously it was not possible to state the real cause of death which occurred almost 10 months ago. What a lucky coincidence for WCS members who proclaimed death by natural causes. Administration of Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve and specifically Anatoliy Astafyev often report such incidents to the WCS, but the situation always gets back to usual.
Figure 4 (clickable). Tiger Sergey’s (#85) skull and radio collar found by WCS members in late Sep, 2008 by the source Yeloviy of river Serebryanka in Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve. The tiger died in Nov-Dec, 2007, just after being caught with Aldrich snare (Courtesy of Sergey Kolchin)
* * * * *
Tiger Ivan was caught again on Oct, 27, 2009 around “Ust-Shanduy” outpost (Zabolochennaya River). Sergey Kolchin had already quitted the Project by then. As Mr Seryodkin disclosed on official web page of WCS local branch [7]: “we have known tiger Ivan for a while, because of multiple pictures taken by photo traps in different parts of Reserve. The photo traps were installed by trailways and trees marked by tiger. Territory controlled by this tiger is unusually large. No less than six mature tigresses also inhabit this area”. Interestingly enough, this info had been disclosed on the official web page only on Feb, 9, 2010.
Three weeks before that on January 15, 2010 in the vicinity of village Artemovo on Serebryanka river, tiger Ivan had killed a local fisherman. Next day the predator was shot by EMERCOM officers. The left paw was heavily injured, the tiger suffered from high degree debilitation. This case was brought into spotlight by different media and investigated in details by the late local journalist Evgeniy Suvorov [8].
Project members stated that tiger Ivan moved around actively and had no health issues after entrapment. This statement was based only on radio signals, which of course raises questions. Deep cuts up to the elbow joint and gnawed autopodium with a dactyl completely bitten off (Fig. 5-8) were detected. The WCS employees commented on the injuries: “…apparently the tiger got in fight with another tiger or a bear”. Veterinarians of Primorskaya State Academy of Agriculture affirmed that view. The corpses of dead tigers have been sent for autopsy examination to Primorskaya State Academy of Agriculture since 2007. Unfortunately employees of this establishment lack the knowledge of big predators’ behavior in the wild, causes and consequences of different injuries. Also, their view is biased towards the official view of WCS employees. This bias arises from WCS sponsorship for workshops on diseases of wild animals and training abroad provided for faculty members.
Figure 5 (clickable). The corpse of tiger Ivan, which was trapped by WCS twice and killed a local villager 2.5 months after the last entrapment (Source: WCS)
Figures 6-7. Tiger Ivan’s injuries caused by Aldrich trap
Figure 8 (clickable). Left mandible canine is gone as it was lost during the first entrapmnet (Picture 3). Left maxillary canine is broken (Source: WCS)
It takes some really imaginative thinking and lack of knowledge on hunting behavior of predators to picture a tiger or a bear chewing off a rival’s paw and simultaneously exposing itself to a deadly bite through the neck or skull base.
The picture clearly shows green cuts from Aldrich trap. Agonizing tiger bit off its own dactyl. Hairless areas are the effects of severe avitaminosis in this case, which is also observed throughout ungulate population during periods of abundant snow. Heavy parasite load that was detected is also a consequence of avitaminosis [9]. We doubt that veterinarians and specialists working for WCS were not aware of these facts, not to mention the broken canines. All these symptoms emerged and were aggravated after using the Aldrich trap. Most likely, as pain intensified, the tiger survived on whatever he was able to pick up - carrion or scraps from other predators’ kills. All these symptoms are secondary by nature, they are the results but not the causes of the rapid health decline. Photos of Ivan before its entrapment show that he was in a good shape (Fig. 9-10).
Figure 9 (clickable). Tiger Ivan 2 weeks before entrapment in October 2009. The animal is in a good shape and well-fed. The photo was taken by WCS photo trap on Oct 13, 2009 (Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve)
Figure 10 (clickable). Tiger Ivan 50 days after entrapment and 25 days before his death. The tiger is emaciated. Left paw is severely cut, with little finger missing. Apparently, the tiger walks on three legs. The photo was taken by WCS photo trap on Dec 21, 2009 (Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve)
The other argument on Aldrich traps’ harmlessness was the presumed mating with tigress Galya 10 days before Ivan’s death. This info was brought up by Mr Dale Miquelle, WCS-Russia director, during a meeting on tiger monitoring, which took place in the office of Special Inspectorate “Tiger” in late October of 2010. Ivan could meet Galya at that time, but we doubt he could mate with her. Tigress Galya gave birth to cubs in the beginning of May, which means she was impregnated in mid-January. At that time mating with Galya was unlikely for Ivan, since he was suffering and was spotted wandering around village Terney.
When we analyze Ivan’s action sequence around the body of the killed man, it doesn’t look like the usual behavior of man-eater animals. The tiger didn’t satisfy his hunger the common way. All he could do was bite off the fingers and some skin from the head of the victim. After that he left the man’s body lying and went nearby on road and attacked cars. On top of total debilitation, pathological psychotic change had emerged. If he didn’t die that day, most likely he would die in the near future.
A special WCS commission was established in Vladivostok to analyze this case. They represented the deaths of the man and the tiger as random events. According to them, it was all the tiger’s fault. No wonder!
The Head of the Project “Amur Tiger” as well as junior members should have conducted a real investigation. A loss of a tiger is usual business (it’s a pity, but it happens quite often), but human death is extraordinary. Instead, they blamed the tiger for everything.
Meanwhile, the work of “tiger defenders” continued with no change in the routine.
Bones of tigress Vera were found under the snow soon after Ivan’s death. She died under uncertain circumstances, but the official statement was “natural causes”. Her corpse was in the woods for almost two months and nobody from Project appeared there despite the radio signal coming from the very same spot all that time. Furthermore, the members of the Project had to trap tigress Galya because the battery in her collar was almost dead. This tigress managed to recognize Aldrich traps on her trailways and avoid it. It’s not really an obstacle for WCS, because they have tested for a long time other technique: run the tiger down by helicopter and then immobilize it.
Tigers are not tireless hunters. Usually a tiger chases its prey for up to 150 m (around 500 feet), then it needs a rest [10..12]. Low stamina of tigers is caused by low oxygen factor in their muscle system, which in turn is caused by low myoglobine in the muscles. Low myoglobine generates vast amount of lactic acid and consequently fatigue during rapid charges. The proportion of heart and lungs for a tiger is 1.5-2 times lower than the same proportion for a wolf, a fox, or a raccoon dog [9].
Imagine the stress a tiger is subjected to when chased by a helicopter. Some readers have probably seen the documentary “Tigers of the snow” by National Geographic Society. That movie is about the same “Amur Tiger” Project. In one episode, a chased tiger climbs up a tree trying to reach and attack the helicopter… and gets its dose of tranquilizer. Mr Dale Miquelle published the story “The replacement of radio collar for tigress Galya” [13] on http://www.wcsrussia.org/, in which he describes the 2-day (!!) chase of the poor animal with Russian helicopter MI-8. On first day, she moved 8 km (about 5 miles) deep into the Reserve area. One can see on the photos that there was a lot of snow which is a natural obstacle and a fatigue factor for the tiger, not to mention hypothermia. Lung frostbite and heart hyperfunction are likely consequences of such a chase. Anyhow, the tigress was immobilized. The pictures from the published story showed good shape of Galya, she was well-fed. Mr Miquelle underlined she had intact canines despite her age (8 years), as females are usually more calm when getting caught by the trap.
Getting back to tigress Galya… A month after the helicopter chase, Galya gave birth to three cubs in a den, soon to be found by WCS members [14]. It’s a well-known fact that a tigress moves the litter or simply abandons it if a human is detected near the den. Usually the older cubs are getting moved, the younger ones die. WCS stated [15] that Galya didn’t leave the cubs and returned to the den in the next 11 days. However, the scientists detected gaps of up to two days when Galya did not appear nearby. This was likely the result of Galya having major health problems after the helicopter chase. It’s also probable that the cubs could have been affected by the chase prior to birth. Finally the cubs died. A week later Galya moved to the area around a military base located not far from Terney village (May, 25). She exposed herself to people and finally wandered into the village. On Jun 1 she was shot. WCS announced that she was very exhausted. And the common WCS arguments were once again in place: “… We assume the main cause of all the recent cases may be the disease. We’re concerned that the area experiences an outbreak… there’s no evidence that entrapment technique or radio collars being used negatively influence the tigers. If they did, we could have detected this fact earlier…” [15].
So, what mysterious disease is killing the tigers of Sikhote-Alinskiy Reserve???
( read the ending )
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