![\"Jonathan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/64789.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nPortrait by Jenn Ackerman<\/p>\n
Jonathan C Slaght is a wildlife biologist and bestselling author of Owls of the Eastern Ice. His new book, Tigers Between Empires, is set in the same region of Russia\u2019s far east\ufeff and follows the plight of the endangered Amur tiger, more popularly known as the Siberian tiger, and the Russian-American team that worked to track and protect them after the fall of the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n
Which interest came first for you, wildlife biology or writing?<\/p>\n
Definitely\ufeff wildlife biology. The writing was sort of pragmatic, almost a means to an end. All the work I do is grant based, so I can\u2019t do any conservation unless I convince someone to give me money to do it. I found myself competing as a graduate student for US-based funding and I felt that I needed to make an emotional connection between potential donors and the work. A lot of scientists aren\u2019t able to articulate the vision, impact or value of their work. But that was a way to set myself apart in the grant\u00a0processes.<\/p>\n
The success of your first book, Owls of the Eastern Ice, took you by surprise. What were you expecting?<\/p>\n
My entire goal in writing the book was to pull back the curtain a bit on a part of the world that I\u2019ve been devoted to for decades and I think is fascinating. At a party, someone would say\ufeff: \u201c\ufeffWhat do you do?\u201d I was like\ufeff: \ufeff\ufeff\u201cWell, I\u2019m a scientist. I study the \ufeffBlakiston\u2019s fish owl.\u201d They were like\ufeff: \ufeff\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d So the goal was to answer that question. I figured that the book would have a \ufeffniche appeal among bird freaks and Russophiles.<\/p>\n
Your new book about a project to save Amur tigers takes place in the same region. Was it while researching owls that you first had the idea about\u00a0tigers?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve known Dale\ufeff Miquelle, the main protagonist of the book, since about the year 2000. He has been a mentor to me and helped support my PhD on owls. Whenever something weird happened in his tiger project, he\u2019d say: \u201cOne day I\u2019m going to write a book about this.\u201d I knew there was a story there. And when the success of the previous book created a platform, there was an opportunity to tell Dale\u2019s story. I asked him if he was ever going to write it, and he said probably not. So that\u2019s when we began working together on crafting the book.<\/p>\n
Do you think human growth in population and consumption is compatible with wildlife conservation?<\/p>\n
Yes, I do. Wilderness is on a sliding scale. If you look at the Russian far east now, specifically\ufeff the province of Primorye, and compare it \ufeffwith \ufeff100 years ago, we\u2019d say it was wild and pristine then, and even more so \ufeff100 years before that. But\ufeff now we are on the edge. Resources are still being extracted yet there are still tigers, there are still salmon swimming up the rivers. So the key is not letting the scale slide so far that there\u2019s no way back.<\/p>\n
The book describes a very harsh environment with very few creature comforts. Do you find those sorts of settings attractive?<\/p>\n
I really do. I think that\u2019s softened with age and I\u2019m less willing to spend extended periods in those situations. But there\u2019s something special about experiencing that kind of hardship for the rewards, which are many in wild places like\u00a0Primorye.<\/p>\n
How has the activity of and treatment of poachers changed over the past three decades?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s changed for the better in the sense that the laws are stricter. You could be caught carrying a newly dead tiger in your arms with a freshly shot rifle, and you could just say you found it, and then it was a minor misdemeanour charge. Under Putin, tigers have become more popular and he\u2019s ushered in laws that are more in line with endangered species laws around the world. Wildlife tends to do well under autocratic rule. Tigers were restored when Stalin was in power.<\/p>\n
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Jonathan C Slaght (left) \u2013 with Ivan Seryodkin (centre) and Dale Miquelle (right) \u2013 collaring a tiger in October 2011<\/p>\n
Tigers, you tell us, kill roughly once a week. What do they do the rest of the\u00a0time?<\/p>\n
Typically, if they\u2019re undisturbed, they\u2019ll sit on that kill for a few days and \ufeffeat it in two, three days\ufeff. \ufeffThey\u2019ll \ufeffalternate between sleeping and feeding and drinking and defecating and milling around in the area. Males in particular ensure that interlopers are kept out because one male territory overlaps with several females, and he will check to see who\u2019s in oestrus, who\u2019s ready to breed. It\u2019s a pretty hard life wandering around looking to run into your next meal, and if they aren\u2019t killed by poachers or a car, they tend to succumb to injury or starvation.<\/p>\n
The Primorye region also has brown bears. Which would you least like to meet in the wild\ufeff: \ufeffa bear \ufeffor a tiger?<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t like bears. I\u2019ve had several bear encounters. I describe in the book how a bear looks at you. It\u2019s really thinking about what to do. With tigers it\u2019s more like a light switch: fight or flight. Bears pace around, they circle you, and they\u2019re vindictive. Tigers are \ufeffmore predictable.<\/p>\n
Do you think that joint wildlife projects between Russia\ufeff and America can have a beneficial effect on relations between the two nations?<\/p>\n
One of the points of the book is that international collaboration is \ufeffessential to conservation, especially with these wide-ranging species that cross borders. Anytime that you can put politics aside and harness someone\u2019s expertise, irrespective of where they\u2019re from, that benefits everyone. It makes the unknown the known, and once you know something you\u2019re more sympathetic.<\/p>\n
When was the last time you went to the Primorye region, and can you imagine returning anytime soon?<\/p>\n
It was in October of 2019, right before Covid. First, I didn\u2019t go for a few years because of Covid, and then my visa expired, and then because of the war. It wouldn\u2019t benefit conservation at the moment for me to show up, so it\u2019s better to just sit on the sidelines for now. I wanted the book to have more of a Russian voice but many of the Russians involved in the project have passed away and the ones who are alive didn\u2019t respond to my enquires. I think there is a fear now about engaging with foreigners.<\/p>\n
This seems to be a golden era for wildlife literature. Are you a keen reader of the genre?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s embarrassing to say, but until I published the owl book, I wasn\u2019t really a big reader. I spent a lot of time reading reports and journals. I didn\u2019t sit down and read for pleasure, but with the success of the owl book, \ufeffI\u2019ve been asked to do endorsements for the backs of books. I was also a juror on a book prize last year in nature and science. So I\u2019m reading a lot now, and it\u2019s fascinating. The last book I read was Lone Wolf by Adam Weymouth, which I reviewed for \ufeffthe Atlantic\ufeff. I absolutely loved it. Another that stuck out was Crossings by Ben Goldfarb. I\u2019m \ufeffinterested in how linear infrastructure \u2013 roads, railways, power lines \u2013 impact and influence animal movements. So I just ate that\u00a0right up.<\/p>\n