A dream came true: Half grown Siberian tiger in the snow

Those of us who are interested in protecting nature asa habitat for all animals including humans are living in interesting as well as sad times.

On the one hand we still have not managed to stop mass extinction although some of us try hard with protection areas, breeding programs ... and on the other hand it seems that the "age of nature conciousness" is ending and another aera of exploiting the earth has just begun

Regarding the tiger: It would have been wonderfull to be able to travel to Kamtschatka and with a little luck see and take pictures of wild siberian tigers but chances of success are low and frankly spoken i simply cannot afford such a trip.

Furthermore i have to admit that even though i am normally not a friend big cats not living in their natural environment it was a unique experience to have a real close encounter with a tiger, even a half grown one and there were situations where i was really scared that one of us would get hurt. Not necessarily by the tiger but simply by stumbling, falling and breaking a leg, it was rough terrain with bog holes under the snow and slippery rocks in the forrest. Having a tiger playfully bite your arm, leg or neck also is not as funny as it may sound, a least not when they are half grown. We were lucky because he still had his baby teeth.

The tiger btw belongs to an experienced animal trainer who adopted him from an animal shelter where he was dropped with three months because he was "not so cute anymore" and getting too big for comfort for the previous owner :-x.

The tiger seemed to be in very good shape, healthy and also quite happy, otherwise we would have stopped the shooting and gone back to the hotel.

Sabine
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