In 1997, a suspected poacher in the Russian wilderness shot a tiger and failed to kill it, instead wounding the animal -- and making it incredibly dangerous. Over the following days, the tiger terrorized the man it believed was responsible, doing so with an eerie sense of focus and cold calculation.
After killing him, the tiger turned his attention to the residents of the nearby village of Sobolonye, many of whom depended upon the wilderness to make their livings, and so were forced to venture into the tiger's domain.
But as villagers did their best to avoid the animal -- with varying levels of success -- a heavily armed, special government anti-poaching unit, known as Inspection Tiger, sought the animal out. Led by Yuri Trush, Inspection Tiger began prowling the wilderness bordering Sobolonye, searching for signs of the man-eater, and looking to put an end to its attacks.
John Vaillant is the author of The Tiger, The Golden Spruce, and Fire Weather, a Pulitzer finalist, and a Baillie Gifford winner.
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The Tiger: https://www.amazon.com/Tiger-Vengeance-Survival-Vintage-Departures/dp/0307389049
Conflict Tiger (2006): https://www.sashasnow.com/conflict-tiger
Our episode with John on Fire Weather: https://youtu.be/81kwnFFtqP8
John Vaillant's X: https://x.com/JohnVaillant
John Vaillant's BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/johnvaillant.bsky.social
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