THis attacks seemed to come out of nowhere. At first, tigers grabbed guard dogs on the outskirts of villages in the Russian Far East, who came out of the forest at night to hunt for prey. Others were pastoralists, hunting horses and cattle.
Then the attacks on people began. In January, an ice fisherman was mauled and dragged away by a big cat during the night, just weeks after a gamekeeper was killed. In March, another man was attacked and partially eaten by a tiger. It was the deadliest winter for tiger attacks in Siberia in decades.
For many years, the Amur tiger, also known as the Siberian tiger, was so rare in the Russian Far East that it was considered a forest ghost. The world's largest cat, renowned for its strength and endurance, is also the world's most endangered cat. Several hundred people live in a remote fragment of the Siberian taiga and along a stretch of the Russian-Chinese border, remnants of a historic territory that once spanned the Korean Peninsula and northeast China.
However, since 2020, Siberian tigers have left the forests in unprecedented numbers, causing fear among communities living near them. African swine fevera disease that is almost always fatal to most types of pigs has spread across the region. The disease is described by scientists as environmental disasterafter driving a few wild pig species are on the verge of extinctionwith huge side effects on ecosystems and other types. It killed huge number of wild boarsthe main source of food for tigers and especially popular among females with cubs.
The virus likely crossed the border into China, where millions of pigs have died since an outbreak that began in 2018. Unrestricted deer poaching and increased deforestation in tiger ranges helped create a perfect storm that drove the predators out of the forests in search of food. In some regions there is 1000% increase in incidents related to conflicts between humans and tigers as African swine fever spread.
In a normal year, there are several incidents of tiger deaths and captures. However, between October 2024 and September this year, at least 17 Siberian tigers were killed and 27 were captured, of which three later died, according to an analysis published by the Guardian. Many of the captured cats were found emaciated and dehydrated or suffering from gunshot wounds or injuries from vehicle collisions.
“Tigers are hungry. That's why we see these incidents,” says an expert on Amur tigers, who the Guardian did not name to protect her identity. As tiger conservation in Russia becomes increasingly politicized, some experts are afraid to speak publicly on the issue. “People want to pay attention to this government, but they don’t want to listen to it,” they say.
Data on the number of wild boars killed by African swine fever in eastern Russia, although there are frequent reports from people who have come across corpses in the forest while traveling to pick mushrooms and nuts. Dr Matthias Marcolf, a researcher at Cologne Zoo, is part of a team of international experts working to better understand the global impact of the virus on wild species.
“Pigs die 90-100% of the time. It's really lethal. In Asia there are many species of pigs living on small islands, so this has catastrophic consequences. We've already seen examples in Sumatra and Malaysia where there are more conflicts with tigers,” he says.
Talking about recent human-tiger conflicts in the Russian Far East can be dangerous; In 2008, Russian President Vladimir Putin supported conservation efforts for the Amur tiger, promising to increase the big cat's numbers. Officially, authorities say there are now about 750 individuals in the wild, a significant increase from just 40 in the 1940s. While few believe the official numbers are accurate, many experts They say that pressure from the Russian leader helped. But many conservationists also suspect that big cats have far more problems than authorities admit.
The Amur Tiger Center, the main body responsible for their conservation, was created by Putin. The council for their preservation is overseen by Justice Minister Konstantin Chuychenko, who has been sanctioned by Western countries for his role in the invasion of Ukraine. Karin Kneissl, former Austrian Foreign Minister and close ally of Putinis an international ambassador for tiger protection. Experts say few independent researchers and conservation groups are allowed to work on protecting the Amur tiger.
At a recent event, Sergei Aramilev, general director of the Amur Tiger Center, played down concerns about problems with Amur tigers.
“The death of a person in an attack by an Amur tiger is extremely rare. From 2010 to 2024, 20 attacks on humans were recorded, as a result of which 13 were injured and seven people died. Of these, 20, 18 were provoked by humans,” he said. He said. “Two recent cases in 2025 were consistent with the general statistics: both tigers had multiple gunshot wounds. Therefore, the claim of unprovoked tiger aggression towards humans is far-fetched and exists only in unreliable online publications.”
The Amur Tiger Center did not respond to the Guardian's request for comment.
But some have decided to raise the issue online, regardless of the risk. In January residents of one village used social media to complain about the impact of tiger hunting dogs on their city. Other promised boycott local elections until they get more protection from tigers.
Experts working on the project say more needs to be done to protect the forests where tigers live, including reducing the impact of logging and mining.
“If we save the ecosystem, we will save the tigers. African swine fever wouldn't be such a big problem if the forest was in good condition,” says one.
Find more Age of Extinction coverage hereand follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston And Patrick Greenfield on the Guardian app to find out more about nature
