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A beautiful hunter.
An ugly beast.
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On the edge of a lush forest in coastal Siberia, a hunter is on the prowl.
Ternay, a small town in Far East Russia.
This is no longer a place of exile, but today's Siberians must eke out a hard living, trapping, fishing, and logging.
They live on one of the last frontiers, surrounded by a vast and largely untamed wilderness.
And still, out there somewhere, a legend lives.
A creature of fearful power and stunning beauty.
It is the biggest cat on Earth, the Siberian tiger.
Today, wildlife biologists seek to study the tiger, and perhaps to save it.
About 300 Siberian tigers survive in the wild, and they are perilously close to extinction.
These Russian and American scientists must get close to one of the most dangerous animals in the world.
But while some seek the elusive tigers in the wild, one Russian scientist is studying them in captivity, mating, and hunting.
Made for Siberia, this splendid cat can sprint across the snows at 50 miles an hour.
Magnificent, mysterious, highly dangerous, and highly endangered.
This is the great Siberian, the tiger of the snow.
The Siberian, the tiger of the snow.
A vast stretch of forest blankets Russia with a fourth of the world's timber reserves.
Until recently, the Siberian tiger thrived here in secure isolation.
Under the strict dictates of the old Soviet system, the tiger was protected.
But today, enforcement is lax.
Rampant poaching has dramatically reduced the population of tigers in the wild.
In the Asian medicine market, everything from the eyes to the tail is valued for its legendary curative powers.
The magnificent coat alone might fetch $10,000.
But poachers aren't the only threat.
The tiger's habitat, part of the largest natural forest in the world, is rapidly disappearing.
It's being caught at a rate of 10 million acres a year.
When authorities confiscate a pelt from the poachers, it must be destroyed so it will never find its way to market.
The calling of poets' famous words, tiger, tiger burning bright in the forests of the night.
The coast of eastern Siberia.
The Siberian tiger once ranged across much of the Asian continent.
Once, they numbered in the thousands.
Now, only some 300 survive in a narrow band of mountains on the Sea of Japan.
The Siberia of legend is a frozen wasteland.
In fact, parts of the forest are temperate, even subtropical.
Here, Russian and American scientists are seeking to study wild Siberian tigers in a last ditch ever to save them.
Dr. Morris Hornicker, an American big cat authority, has brought desperately needed technology to this crucial effort.
In the past, Russian scientists could study the tigers only in winter, when their tracks could be followed in the snow.
Now, with radio tracking devices, the elusive cats can be studied sight unseen and year round.
My first work with cats was with the mountain lions in North America, in Idaho.
Everyone said it couldn't be done, and I've always liked a challenge.
We've used the tiger population as target species, but we've studied the entire ecosystem
because of the immense area that the tiger needs to exist, defines entire watersheds, entire systems that the prey must also utilize.
So you can literally define an entire ecosystem by studying a big cat.
Scientists pick up a radio signal from a tiger somewhere in the thick forest below.
In fact, it's a number of tigers, and incredibly, they're out in the open.
Siberian tigers are so rare and elusive that even a fleeting glimpse like this is a landmark event for the scientists.
When we saw that female in those cubs on this lakeshore, wide open view,
first time that a female Siberian tiger in her cubs had ever been observed and photographed from the air,
it was one of the most thrilling events in my professional career.
Honecker's team has tracked some dozen tigers by radio, trying to determine such essential facts as their range and distribution.
At the field lab of the Honecker Wildlife Institute, Morris is briefed by Dale Mikkel, who's been coordinating the field study for the past three years.
We've got five females that we've got good information on their home ranges.
We've got Olga, the first female we captured, who's now in the home range that only includes a little piece of the reserve, actually.
Together with their Russian colleagues, they need to quickly establish a management plan for the tigers.
One of the things that's interesting about all of this is that all these animals travel outside the boundaries of the reserve,
so even though the reserve is vast, it's not large enough to maintain these females in their entire home range.
Time is running out. Even now, logging roads skirt the reserve, where only some 20 tigers roam over 1,300 square miles.
The researchers receive word that a tiger has been caught in one of their snares, a chance to add a new animal to their study group.
Bart Schleyer and Dr. Honecker prepare to sedate the tiger.
There is no way of knowing how securely the tiger is trapped.
He could suddenly pull free, and then they would have only a few seconds to save themselves.
A tranquilizer dart should quiet the tiger down.
Still, the dosage required is always in doubt.
Too much endangers the tigers, too little the researchers.
It's a three-year-old male.
When fully grown, at about age six, he'll weigh 600 pounds or more.
But even now, he's an armful.
They carry the tiger to better ground.
His eyes must be artificially lubricated, since the blink response is sedated.
These massive jaws can crack the spine of a wild boar with a single bite.
Its feet are like thickly padded snowshoes with retractable claws.
The radio collar allows them to track the tiger and help answer some crucial questions.
How much territory do the tigers require?
How many elk and deer and boar?
How do they react to human encroachment?
Suddenly the tiger is having trouble breathing.
They desperately try to revive him.
Yeah, but his breaths are real low.
That color's cut, Morris, that color's cut, because we might have a cat that comes up real quick.
The tiger must be given a stimulant.
Slowly, he resumes his normal breathing rate.
Yeah, he's breathing.
I think the danger's coming.
The biologists must now take their samples hastily before the great beast fully awakens.
Pass me three right behind him.
They're reluctant to lose sight of him before he's safely on his feet, but also eager not to be in his way.
Now, at a safe distance, the team receives a signal from the radio collar.
The tiger is up and about and on the prowl again.
In another part of the reserve, the team is concerned about the signal from a tigress named Olga.
She was the very first collared with a radio.
Olga, it appears, has remained in the same area for a long time, a sign that she may be dead or that she's found a den and given birth.
Dr. Evgeny Smirnov, Russian tiger specialist, determines that Olga is in fact moving about her den site.
The researchers decide they'll attempt to enter the den to earmark the cubs.
They'll need to wait until night when the tigress should be out hunting, hopefully far from home.
I asked if he thought it would be dangerous or we'd be in trouble if we went there and he said, of course it'd be dangerous. There's only one variation there to approach when she's not there because it's simply too dangerous to make an approach with the mother present.
Thank God we have the telemetry equipment to check on whether or not Olga is there and so we know exactly when she's left the den site. Without that it'd simply be a suicide mission to walk in there.
The fading radio signal indicates that Olga has left her den, but if she returns she would probably attack instantly.
They test flares they hope would drive Olga off.
Protecting a den is one of the rare circumstances when a Siberian will turn man killer.
Night is the time when tigers are most alert and aggressive. Their night vision is far superior to humans.
The signal from Olga, once faint, is getting louder. The team must quickly be in and out of the den.
Yeah, this is it. This is it, Bart.
Yeah, yeah, we got the spot.
Yeah.
The cubs soaked with tiger urine are worn so the mother will not detect their intrusion and reject her cubs.
Yeah, go ahead.
Get out of the way.
It's a healthy male, two months old. The cub already weighs about 13 pounds.
I'm still getting a signal and it's nearly not that weak right now. We're probably going to have to hurry if you can.
Unlike other cats, tiger kittens never learn to purr.
An ear tag is inserted for future identification. They christen the cub Sasha.
I'm getting a signal. We're going to have to hurry. She's back. She's come back over the ridge.
Their daring has set a new precedent. For the first time ever, scientists have examined and returned a cub to a den in the wild.
In towns and villages throughout coastal Siberia, people have learned to live with the idea of tigers.
But attacks have happened and some are afraid. In the village of Gaivarin, however, one man is happy to have tigers in his own backyard.
Morris Hornaker and Howard Quigley are working with a Russian biologist who has two orphaned cubs in captivity.
Victor Uton has raised the cubs from infancy.
Victor is the author of a definitive natural history of the Russian wolf, but he soon learned that Kucher the tiger and Nyurka the tigress are different animals indeed.
To study tigers in captivity is absolutely necessary because many of their biological traits cannot be learned in the wild.
Comparing the results of the tiger studies that were done in captivity and in the wild helps us to develop the methods of how to preserve the tiger as a species in reserves like Sihotayalin.
The young tigers have outgrown their cages and so, with the support of the Hornaker Wildlife Institute, an enclosure is built in the adjacent woods.
Though a far cry from the hundreds of square miles a tiger in the wild would roam, these six acres will provide the young captives with the opportunity to run and hunt and hopefully even mate and have cubs.
But there are neighbors in the area.
Victor knows the importance of keeping them well informed, especially now when the tigers will soon be turned loose into the enclosure.
So he brings local school children to the compound.
Villagers often come to see the tigers. They often ask me why keep tigers in this enclosure since it's so different from life in the wild.
I explain to them that there are limitations to what we can and cannot learn from observing tigers the way we do in the wild by simply following tracks through the snow.
But afterwards, when people realize that it's not just for fun, that it's serious work, they look at me in admiration as if I were a superman, I guess.
The day has come when, for the first time, the tigers will step into the natural world they were intended to rule.
No one knows how they'll react to their new enclosure.
For Victor, it's an especially anxious moment, for he hopes the enclosure will be home to these tigers for the rest of their lives.
Meanwhile, Kucha steps boldly out.
For the first time, the light through the trees, the smell of grass and leaf, the feel of the soft earth.
For Victor, the female is unsure of all this and even tries to close the gate. But soon curiosity overcomes caution.
To Euton's surprise, Kucha begins to feel a little frisky and tries to mate.
But New Yorker will have no part of it. For her, the time has not yet come.
Exhilarated by their freedom, they soon vanish into their little private forest.
To feed his feline charges, Dr. Euton collects roadkill.
Victor feels he knows the mood of his tigers so well he can risk entering the enclosure.
In the wild, most attacks on humans occur when they invade a tiger's territory or when cubs are threatened.
Unlike Bengal tigers, Siberians have never been known to hunt man.
Once the tigers settle into their enclosure, Dr. Euton begins his observations and controlled experiments.
He hopes to learn which behaviors are innate and which would need to be taught to captive tigers before they could be released into the wild.
Tigers live in a world of feast or famine. Still, Kucha must wait his turn.
Euton notices it's the female who feeds first.
With the coming of fall, the first brisk winds blow in from the Siberian Arctic.
Designed for these autumn colors, the tigers blend with the landscape.
In the wild, their coloration becomes lighter as winter approaches, anticipating snow.
Dr. Euton confronts one more problem that makes the study of tiger behavior so difficult.
The tiger is largely a creature of the dark.
After their extraordinary night vision, Kucha and Yurka come fully alive only after sunset.
Recently, they begun to roam restlessly in the dark.
Victor wonders if night has awakened an instinctive urge to hunt. When he releases a small rabbit in the enclosure, he quickly learns the answer.
After several weeks, the tigers have established their territory.
After several weeks, the tigers have established their territory in the enclosure.
How would they react to another of their own species?
Euton and Hornaker set up an experiment involving a full-sized model tiger.
I'm interested to see what you think of this, Victor. Is that as big as Kucha? Yes. These will match right up.
You got that back there? Yes. That's a good fit.
Let's see what it looks like standing up.
Victor's dogs are convinced. They immediately recognize an arch enemy.
Tigers in the wild are solitary animals and fiercely territorial.
Is this behavior innate or learned? And if innate, how soon does it develop?
The reaction to an intruder by the captive raised tigers may help provide an answer.
The scale model is covered with tiger urine, the scent that establishes territory.
Recordings of tiger calls will be played into the enclosure.
The challenge is set.
The male is curious. He spends hours observing this strange creature.
But by light of day, Kucha keeps his distance.
It's only overnight that the researchers discover the tiger's real attitude towards the intruder.
A shred of color has been ripped from the model's skin.
Only when the model no longer looked like a tiger did Kucha leave it alone.
The defense of his territory is already a powerful instinct.
It was the long Siberian winter that created the tigers of the snow, demanding robust size, padded paws and thick fur.
But it is also winter when they are hunted, when they are most easily seen, this time by a scientist.
We've had to develop and evolve all our techniques here. No one had ever worked with Siberian tigers before.
So we utilized foot-snaring to capture the tiger, and it's worked very successfully.
But some of them are becoming very trap-shy. Some of them have become very difficult to capture.
So in order to maintain the continuity of our data collection, in order to keep track of certain individuals, we've had to utilize helicopters.
The hunt begins to re-collar certain tigers.
The information the collars provide is critical to understanding the boundaries required for the tiger's survival.
Their territories are extensive. Females may range up to 200 square miles, males perhaps 500.
Losing contact with the study animal is their greatest fear. Each one is precious to the scientists.
The collars we put on animals last about two to two and a half years, and then the lithium batteries run out, so they simply need to be replaced.
Once we've invested two years in an animal and gathered information, that animal becomes very valuable to us because it has a history.
And the longer we can maintain contact with an animal, the more we learn about its life history patterns, how often it has young, how long they live, its whole life history.
The pilot spots something below.
It's a wild boar running for its life.
And in pursuit, a tiger.
Tigers miss most of their prey.
This time the helicopter provides a distraction, saving the boar.
The tiger is not amused.
Eventually they pick up the strong signal of another familiar tiger.
This is Olga, mother of the cub found in the den.
The helicopter quickly searches the area, hoping to spot her cub, Sasha.
And Sasha is there. No longer a small cub, but thriving well.
The young are raised by the mother alone.
The mother will stay with her for 18 to 20 months until it's time to establish his own home range.
The search continues for Kuza, a young male who has outgrown his radio collar.
Kuza is just beginning to mark off his territory, and it's difficult to know the extent of his range.
Realizing a Siberian tiger is not an exact science.
The size of the tiger, its mood, and the placement of the dart can influence the drug's effectiveness.
Always out of concern for the tiger, the team tries to inject a minimal amount.
After long hours and much precious fuel, the tiger is spotted.
In pursuit, the helicopter must fly very low over dense forest, a dangerous maneuver.
It's a far cry from hunting on foot for Bachschleier.
There's usually just a real narrow opportunity to dart, and sometimes there's a limb in the way,
and there's been a number of times when I probably could have gotten a dart into an animal,
but I'm too worried about a deflection of the dart and having the dart deflect into an improper placement in the animal,
which would injure it, which we don't want.
So I'm real stressed by trying to get a proper hit on an animal.
As the tiger moves deeper into the forest, the helicopter follows so closely it almost touches the tree tops.
To the pilots we're using, I'm real confident in the pilots because you are operating real close to tree level,
and you just hope that the pilots can see what's going on around behind them particularly with the back rotor,
and particularly the other day when we were in close on one of the tigers,
there was a conifer tree that was actually almost butted right up against the helicopter.
The first shot is a clean hit.
They hover patiently, waiting for the tranquilizer to take effect,
but they can't wait too long, for they're running low on fuel.
Bart fires another dart into the tiger.
Most big cats need two doses, and the second one appears to take effect.
Bart and Reba Nikolai must quickly be landed.
This too is a dangerous maneuver, but they can't leave the tiger sedated for long.
The pilot is very concerned now. They must refuel.
He radios Bart to abort the mission.
But Bart insists, for the tiger's well-being, they must remain below and finish the job now.
The helicopter races back to refuel.
As they slowly approach the tiger, their worst fears are realized.
The tiger is up and moving. The dosage was insufficient.
Still, they must get a closer look to make sure he's all right.
They proceed with caution, knowing they are intruding in a fierce young tiger's newly claimed territory.
Kuza appears groggy, but otherwise all right, but he's much too dangerous to follow.
Now they can only await the helicopter's return and hope the young tiger has seen enough of them.
But now the tiger has eluded them, but at least they know where he can be found.
Eventually, he'll be located and fitted with a new collar.
At last, they are brought aboard to the relative safety of a helicopter hovering in the treetops.
Not long after, they spot a tigress named Marivana.
She is very aggressive and even climbs a tree to attack the helicopter.
She only provides a better target for Bartschleier.
Unlike the larger male, a single dose sedates the tigress quickly.
The old collar is measured against the new one, which is given an extra notch for growth.
They carefully monitor her heart rate and respiration.
Mission accomplished. The new collar will provide crucial data for at least another two years.
Not far from the cold, forbidding wild, the success of the venture is celebrated Russian style.
It's also Bartschleier's birthday.
For American and Russian alike, it's a camaraderie born of years of shared dangers and shared dreams.
At Victor Euden's compound, winter has transformed the enclosure.
The Siberian winter seems to invigorate the captive tigers.
This is truly the season of the tigers of the snow.
As Victor Euden observes, Kutcher, the male, continues to stake out his territory, spraying the trees with his scent.
In what is called a flamen, the female tests the air for his scent.
Then it's Kutcher's turn to detect if his mate is in heat.
And she is.
New Yorker, the female, initiates the coupling. And so the mating period begins.
If we succeed in getting young cubs, it would be great, because then we can develop the best methods for returning the young tigers back into the wild.
We'll try to bring them up in natural conditions, so they will more easily adapt to joining the wild tiger population here in the reserve.
As for a successful mating, all Dr. Euden can do is hope for results.
Victor's wife, Lina, has a special relationship with the tigers. She's nurtured them since they were cubs. When they must be brought in at night because of the dangers of poaching, only their babushka can lure them home.
Come here, little one.
Come home, my little one, come home.
Come here, New Yorker, come here.
Come in, come in, come in, come in.
Over the next few days, the tigers breed often,
sometimes dozens of times a day.
At last, the breeding ends and New Yorker moves into her den.
She should give birth in about a hundred days.
Springtime in Siberia.
Dr. Hornicker receives word from Victor Juden that New Yorker has given birth.
But something's wrong.
Victor's observed that the mother is not taking care of her cubs.
This is not uncommon when big cats give birth in captivity.
Does Victor think she's fed them at all?
Probably not.
Then we'd better go in and look, Victor.
They isolate the mother New Yorker so they can safely approach the den.
One of the cubs is up and about, but looks hungry and unkempt.
The other cub is barely moving, and Victor is clearly concerned.
How is he?
Oh, yeah. Poor little guy.
Suddenly the cub stops breathing.
Victor rushes it inside where he will try to revive it.
It appears the mother has neither groomed nor nursed her cubs, and this one is near death.
With infinite patience, Victor massages the heart.
Hoping against all odds to bring the cub back to life.
The mortality rate of Siberian tiger cubs can be up to 30 percent.
With so few born in the wild, the survival of captive cubs is critical to the species.
One cub is lost, but her brother, under Victor's tender nursing, recuperates quickly.
He's named the cub Globus, for a world that cares.
Even if his own mother hasn't learned to.
Eventually, Globus will be brought to the United States, as part of his family.
Eventually, Globus will be brought to the United States, as part of a captive breeding program.
When he is, he'll be following other cubs, orphaned in Siberia and sent by Dr. Hornaker to the snows of Omaha, Nebraska.
They're now part of the world's most successful breeding program for large predators.
The tigers are bred here with the goal of returning the cubs back to the wild.
But what kind of environment will await them?
Back in Russia, Dr. Hornaker strives to educate Siberia's future caretakers.
If we're to save these big carnivores as the world population increases, we must convince the younger generation that it's worthwhile conserving them.
It's always so rewarding to me and gratifying to see how children accept this.
They really love these big animals, they want to save them, and if we can convince them that it's in their best interest, then it's to their advantage and to ours.
Soon, much of this magnificent forest, the Siberian tiger's last domain, may be cut down for a world hungry for lumber.
But the years of difficult and dangerous study have given birth to a plan to save the forest by saving the tiger in the wild.
Selecting the tiger as the umbrella species to be saved means that the forest surrounding the reserve must also be protected.
But in a land of political uncertainty, there are no guarantees.
Poised on the edge of extinction, the tiger of the snow evokes an old Russian proverb.
Hope is the last to die.
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