Siberian tigers are being hunted at night for their body parts

With just hundreds left in the wild, new research reveals how poachers are killing them and shipping their bones to China.

Amur tigers, sometimes called Siberian tigers, live mostly in Russia’s Far East. Expanding logging roads make it easier for poachers to find and kill the protected cats, whose body parts are valued for traditional Chinese medicine.
Photograph by Emmanuel Rondeau

The tiger was already dead when they spotted it, the hunters said—a furry, ocher mound against the snowy backdrop of Primorye, a sprawling region eight time zones from Moscow, in Russia’s Far East.

The seven men took a picture with the massive Amur tiger, their arms casually slung around each other’s shoulders, the straps from their Soviet-era rifles hanging askew. The warmth of the carcass had already begun to melt the snow.

Four of the men smiled as they looked over the photo. But they demurred when wildlife crime researcher and National Geographic Explorer Allison Skidmore leaned in and asked if she could photograph their prized tiger picture. It’s been illegal to kill tigers in the country for nearly 75 years, they

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