"Olga has been living in the same place for 14 years and resident tigers don't just pack up and move long distances," reports WCS conservationist John Goodrich, Field Coordinator for the STP. "It's unlikely that her collar failed. We've used about 100 radio-collars on tigers and bears during the life of the project and have only documented one premature collar failure."
Olga was well known to people around the world, having been filmed for several international television documentaries, including National Geographic's award winning "Tigers in the Snow," and appearing in magazine and newspaper articles. Locally, she was also a type of celebrity, with news of her activities often appearing in the local newspaper of Terney, and talk of her whereabouts and activities a popular topic of conversation, especially among those who lived and worked in the forests where she lived.
A survey to assess numbers of tigers remaining in the Russian Far East, coordinated by WCS and many other governmental and non-governmental agencies, including AMUR, an Anglo-Russian charity that raises money to pay for the urgent work in the Russian Far East, is just being completed. However, it is too early to say just how many tigers remain. Nonetheless, tigers are considered extremely rare, and in danger of extinction throughout their range.
"Since we first radio-collared her in 1992, Olga lived largely outside of protected areas, in forests heavily used by hunters, and intensively grazed by cattle," said Dale Miquelle. "But for 13 years, she avoided contact with those hunters, and never turned to cattle as a source of food, even when trying to feed her hungry cubs. Her perseverance while other tigers were falling victim to poachers' bullets symbolized the fight to save the world's last Siberians, despite overwhelming odds."
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Contact: Stephen Sautner
ssautner@wcs.org
1-718-220-3682
Wildlife Conservation Society
31-Mar-2005