Bearing Down For A Prized Cat UI Wildlife Institute Helping Russians Save Siberian Tiger

University of Idaho biologists are using the lessons learned in research on wild cats from central Idaho to southern Africa in an effort to save the world’s largest cat from extinction.

The university’s Hornocker Wildlife Institute, with its reputation for overseeing more predator work than any other center in the world, is helping Russian scientists bring the Siberian tiger back from the brink.

“Ranching Hereford cattle is different in Montana than Texas, but they’re still Herefords. Lions in New Mexico are different than central Idaho, but they’re still cats,” Maurice Hornocker said.

About 330 adult Siberian tigers and 100 younger ones inhabit a narrow strip of eastern Russia bordering the Sea of Japan. But their survival has been threatened by the value of their pelts and body parts, especially in Asian markets.

Typically weighing 650 pounds and stretching 12 feet from head to tail, the Siberian tiger’s heavy coat commands as much as $10,000 - several times what local Russians could earn in one year. Powdered tiger bones are sold in the Orient as a cure for everything from cancer to impotence.

Under communism in the former Soviet Union, the borders were closed and communities isolated. The people cut timber from the vast forests only for shelter and fuel. But now, with capitalism blooming, the forests are being clearcut at the same hurried pace as the Amazon rain forest.

Hornocker said a key to recovery is educating the government and the people not only about the value of tigers, but also their habitat.

Save the forest, he said, and the tiger will be saved.

In the early 1990s, about 50 tigers were being killed annually. That has dropped to below 15 a year the past two winters.

“The numbers that have come through on census and official figures on poaching indicate we may have stabilized the population,” said Howard Quigley, Hornocker’s associate. “We hope the tigers are around 100 years from now and the Russian economy is clicking.”

The tiger project was showcased in the February edition of National Geographic. A television version, “Tigers of the Snow,” will air April 5 on NBC.

After two years of fund raising, the institute began its study in 1992 in a reserve of the Sikhote-Alin mountain range on the coast of the Sea of Japan. The scientists had an advantage since the habitat there is very similar to the Coastal Range from Washington to northern California.

The Idaho biologists’ experience with radio collars was a boon to their Russian counterparts, who could only gather information about the tigers by following their tracks in the snow five months out of the year.

A management plan followed, focusing on education, protection and land-use planning that has been incorporated into the Russian government’s National Decree for tiger recovery. Conservation acreage for the tigers was increased, anti-poaching teams were strengthened and courts cracked down on convicted poachers.

Hornocker has studied imperiled animals for most of his career, including lynx in Washington state, mountain lions in New Mexico, jaguars in Brazil and leopards in southern Africa.

“You have to consider the human element,” Hornocker said. “No one wants to have things crammed down their throat. They subsidize tobacco farmers. Why not the person with endangered species on his land?”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SIBERIAN TIGER FACTS They are the largest cats on Earth, weighing up to 650 pounds. They can climb trees, and their swimming skills dispel the notion that “cats don’t like water.” Can eat up to 100 pounds of meat at one sitting, nearly a sixth of their body weight. Have amazing night vision, able to detect light six times dimmer than the human eye can detect. Once numbered in the thousands and ranged over most of Asia.