A perfect marriage of Russian and wild tiger history
Another well-rounded book on a facinating story. Initially I thought it was about a courageous man heoically stood up against a man-eating tiger, but lost the fight. It turned out to be so much more behind this.
The book is full of colorful history across 20th century with a focus on a small Russian village bodering China. That place's ultimately harsh environment was consisted of freezing weather, sparse population, and, of course, lack of means to survive. The place was hit the hardest when Russian economy crashed through hyper inflation in 1920s and again in early 1990s due to Russia privatization. Tiger poaching was rampant, as tiger was regarded as a treasure from top to bottom and from skin to bones. Tiger poaching was a high-risk-high-award activity that only men who's skillful and bold dared to attempt.
Post privitization, the poaching activity skyrocketed. Private companies lean towards supporting rather than preventing harms to this wild species, so fewer warders were sent guarding wider territories. Tiger "evolved" in the eyes of human from an extremely dangerous threat to surrounding population to a near distinct animal in desperate needs of protection. The man-eating tiger appeared in the story merely fought for it's survival and venge against who ever tried to harm it.
Much to my relief, with stricter government intervention, the number of tiger sightings finally increased in early 21st century and on it's way to rise.
I read this after I was impressed by Fire Weather and again I was not disappointed.
