survive in the taiga.”
Markov was certainly one of the latter, but sometimes that isn’t
enough.
Because of the early evidence supporting the theory that Markov’s death
was an act of revenge by a tigress, Trush had not given much thought to
the possibility that this attack might have stemmed from a confrontation
between a tiger and Markov’s dogs. But he had his hands full: following
his investigation of the Markov site on Saturday the 6th, and his return to
Luchegorsk, Trush spent the 8th and 9th fielding reporters’ questions and
issuing bulletins on radio and television, warning people who lived in the
Bikin valley to be on their guard, and urging everyone else to stay away.
However, once this was done, Trush went back to work, patrolling and
responding to calls in other parts of his district.
Meanwhile, life in Sobolonye had changed dramatically. In addition to
being in mourning, many residents were justifiably terrified: who was
going to be next? “Will the tigress leave the area, having completed her
revenge?”^15 wondered the news commentator on a local television
station. “Or, God forbid, will she inflict more sorrows?”
- For example, tigers are adept at distinguishing between the engine
sounds of airplanes and helicopters; the former are no threat and are
ignored, while the latter may be used for tracking and are responded to
with evasive or aggressive action. - Tigers notwithstanding, the bear occupies a place of high honor in the
pantheon of Primorye’s first peoples. The Nivkh (aka Gilyak), a coastal
tribe whose historic lands abut those of the Udeghe and the Nanai, took
this reverence the furthest by developing an elaborate bear cult in which a
bear would be captured alive, housed, and fed—sometimes for years—
and then ritually killed and eaten. There is no record of any indigenous