Episode 2 Operation Snow Tiger

Deep in the frozen forests of Russia

lives a predator.

It's one of the world's rarest animals -

the Siberian tiger.

He's right in there. Right there.

Less than 300 metres.

Only a handful of pioneering scientists

have ever seen one in the wild.

These Russians are tough, and they know this place, and they're fast.

Now, an international team are on the trail of this elusive big cat.

Clearly, you're looking at a Siberian tiger.

They're working in one of the planet's coldest places.

This is a lawless wilderness...

It's an illegal rifle.

..where tiger and man compete to survive.

I'm Liz Bonnin. I'm trying to uncover

the hidden world of this remarkable animal for the first time.

Revealing the untold story of Siberia's snow tigers.

I've studied Bengal tigers in India and Nepal.

But the Siberian tiger,

and its habitat here in the Russian Far East,

are completely new to me.

Siberian tigers once ranged across Northern Asia.

Now the remaining few live here,

in the Russian Far East.

Scientists think there are now less than 350 in the wild.

I'm part of a research team trying to document the lives

of individual Siberian tigers.

They roam over vast areas of forest.

We've been on the trail of a few important tigers...

..but we discovered a problem.

In a vital stronghold,

we found male tigers...

..but no breeding females.

We began the hunt for female tigers...

..but our mission was interrupted by tragic circumstances.

Three Siberian tiger cubs lost their mother.

Two of the orphan cubs were saved.

Wow, a tiger!

But the third was found with only hours to live.

He's struggling a bit. He's struggling. Watch out!

This is great, this is what we wanted, to get this guy.

The cub is so weak, they need to act fast to save him.

With no clinic nearby, they take him to a house in a local village.

A bedroom becomes a makeshift surgery.

Dr Dale Miquelle has been working with Siberian tigers

for over 20 years.

He's dehydrated, so we just want to get a drip in

until we get some fluids back into him. It'll also help

warm him up, to get some warm fluids into him,

just to get him rehydrated, basically.

Cameraman Max Hug Williams

tracked this cub with rangers for over a week.

When we first came up here,

I didn't really know what to expect.

But following these guys around,

it's just unbelievable.

They literally give up everything for this species.

You get pretty choked up when you see these guys

marching through the forest, and you think, you know,

they're like something out of the military

but then, deep down, they're doing all of this for a tiger.

It's a problem because his pulse is really weak.

The cub is so dehydrated, they can't use a drip.

-So it's not in the vein.

-No.

Now we're trying to warm him up with a hot water bottle here.

Heart is racing, but there's not good circulation.

So this animal is fighting for its life right now.

(The guys are frantically trying to get some fluids in because he's so dehydrated.)

His temperature's gone up a lot.

It was 95.5 and now it's 99.2,

so in the last half hour,

it's gone up four degrees.

He's coming round! He's coming round!

He's waking up from the anaesthetic,

but it's still uncertain if he'll survive.

The team have done all they can, for now.

While we wait to find out his fate,

we return to our main mission.

The reason we've come to Russia.

We're here to find out

what Siberian tigers need,

if they're to have a future in the wild.

The lack of breeding females here is a major problem

and something that Dale is concerned about.

He's collaborating with Dr Victor Lukarevsky,

who's been studying tigers in the crucial Ussuriysk Reserve.

It's likely this tiger's right on this, this bear that he dragged off.

Of the remaining Siberian tigers,

they believe only 100 are females of breeding age.

Reserves like Ussuriysk are essential tiger nurseries.

These protected areas have become havens for tigers

to be able to reproduce in safety,

and produce as many tiger cubs as they can, as often as they can.

And then those tiger cubs are dispersed

into the larger and less safe habitat.

The problem is, Ussuriysk only has

one resident female, Serga,

and she's too old to breed.

Without a fertile female, the male tigers will leave,

and the reserve's population will collapse.

But Victor has found something that gives us hope.

Photographs from camera traps

can be used to identify individuals.

Tiger stripes are like fingerprints, unique to each animal.

This photograph has just been analysed and it's not Serga.

It's her daughter.

-This is Princess.

-Oh, my gosh, look at that.

This is 22 November last year.

-So, 22nd November?

-22nd, yes.

So two months ago, basically.

It's two or three months ago. So before that,

you hadn't had footage of Princess for a year, is that right?

Yes. A year, we have no information from her

and I thought that she is...

She's poached. She's killed. So this is really great news!

And whereabouts is this?

It is inside of the protected area.

-So it's in the reserve.

-Inside Ussuriysk.

-But she still overlapped with Serga, her mother.

-Yes, yes.

-So there's some overlap.

-Yes, yes. Half, er, area.

-Half her area overlaps with her mother?

-Half of it?!

OK, that's bigger than I thought. OK. Look, guys, where do we start?

-Everywhere!

-Doesn't matter.

Which is why it's best for us to split up, to try and maximise

the chances of finding her as soon as possible, yeah?

-Great stuff, though! Great image. Good news.

-That's a great find.

This news, for me, that was best news for the last year!

Absolutely, it's true.

Princess holds the key to the future of the Ussuriysk tigers.

But apart from this one photograph,

Victor has no evidence that she's still in the reserve.

She's vanished.

Now our team have just three weeks to try to find her

before we have to leave.

So we split up to search the area where she was last caught on camera.

And so if Princess is here, it's really important to find out

what condition she's in, how often she uses this protected area,

and if there's even the slightest chance she might be pregnant.

So about four days ago, we had a warm front come through,

rain came down and, amazingly, er, had a very warm period.

A tiger walked through here while there was wet, wet,

basically a slush. And so, it's amazing,

but you can actually get down and uncover...

almost like dinosaur tracks,

this track of a male walking down

this road in the reserve.

They're just spectacular to see.

Siberian tigers prefer to use roads,

rather than walk in deep snow.

It helps them to conserve energy in winter.

I'm setting camera traps, which are triggered by movement.

I'm aiming the cameras at the only road in Ussuriysk Reserve.

If Princess is still here, there's a good chance she'll walk past them.

Tigresses will often donate a portion of their home range

to their female offspring.

What they're trying to do is ensure that their daughters have

a high probability of success in raising their own young.

And so in a situation like here, we've got Princess,

who is using part of her mother's home range and, hopefully,

acquiring the benefits that her mother had in that same area.

In other words, high densities of prey, a good knowledge of that area,

and also increasing the success in terms of rearing young.

Winter is too long in Russia.

It's six, seven months per year, it is too long.

But in the snow, you can collect a lot of data.

In previous years, Victor has managed to capture

some of the Siberian tigers in Ussuriysk,

to fit them with tracking collars.

If he's close enough, these collars help him to locate the animals.

Princess was fitted with a collar,

but Victor hasn't picked up her signal for over 18 months.

It's working...

He's not far, I think maybe half a kilometre,

maybe it's outside of the...

Wait...

Victor has found the signal of a large male.

He's a little too close for comfort.

And these tracks lead right past one of our cameras.

Shall we have a look at the footage?

This is really interesting because the tracks look fresh.

-Dale!

-It's Dale.

This is great, we split up to look for Princess

and what do we get on camera traps?

Dale! So Dale triggered it.

Oh!

With a collar. With a collar.

-Who is that? Is that Serga?

-It is Luke. No, no, it is Luke.

How soon after Dale, walking down the road by himself?

20 minutes ago, Luke was going that way. 20 minutes ago.

I hope everything is well.

No, Dale is fine.

-I hope.

-Dale was going down this way.

-The tiger was going up this way.

-But first, there was...

-Don't.

Victor, don't. Let's go find Dale.

Let's just go find Dale now, please.

Tigers hunt at dusk.

We had planned to collect Dale before sunset,

but we've got a problem.

Go!

We're just on our way to find Dale and, of course,

as luck would have it, we get stuck in the snow.

It happens all the time, but tonight is not the night

we want it to happen. So we're just getting Victor to pull us out

and then we're going to try and make sure Dale's OK.

The darker it gets, the more worried we are about Dale.

But thankfully, we find him.

Dale!

-Liz.

-We have to show you something, come with me.

-Seriously, I'm so glad to see you.

-I'm glad to see you, too.

-Let me just show you something.

-All right, great.

Dale has rarely been so close to a tiger.

I was too early! I should have waited 20 minutes,

-we would have met!

-Oh, my gosh!

-Dale, it is OK. It is very well.

So first of all, me and Victor were like, "Oh, there's Dale.

"Oh, tiger! Yay, tiger!" And then we were like, "Oh, my gosh, Dale!"

Look at you, look at you!

-Strolling, not a bother in the world!

-No problems at all.

Listen, I mean, day one looking for Princess,

no Princess, but we know Luke's in the area.

And, who knows? Possibly, he's here because of Princess.

-It could be a possibility.

-We will see.

It's a result, you're safe and sound.

Healthy result, and he's safe and sound.

He's really healthy and safe and sound.

-Right, dinner, guys, and a drink to celebrate, I reckon. Yeah?

-Great.

This young male tiger could be looking for a mate,

but we still haven't found any females.

Next morning, we head back into the reserve

and Dale discovers just how close he came to meeting Luke.

Yeah, so he came down to here and turned around and went back.

And me, standing on the embankment there, 20, 30 yards away,

turned around and ran back.

I never even saw him, didn't hear him. Just missed him.

Huh!

He stopped here, too.

He may have heard me walking down the road.

I don't know, it's hard to tell,

but he may have heard something and still continued down.

He may have thought I was a potential prey at that time,

but he changed his mind once he got down there.

Said, "I don't want any of that!"

Meanwhile, Victor and I

follow Luke's tracks forward to see where he went.

Male tigers travel huge distances patrolling their territory

and looking for mates. Luke could lead us to Princess.

Had a bit of a rest.

Tiger beds here are so much more telling than those in India.

I mean, you always see indentations,

but the snow really clearly makes out the shape of the tiger.

You can just visualise a tiger much more easily.

Is it possible that he came off the road, he lay down,

because we were on the road, making so much noise

looking at the camera trap footage?

Yes, he... Maybe he listens the car.

So while we were watching him on the camera trap, he was watching us!

But he was watching, yes.

-Do you remember, he look and turn back?

-Yeah.

-And go.

He was so close to us.

Dale wasn't the only one who had a close encounter with a tiger.

Scientists can spend their entire careers studying Siberian tigers

and never see one in the wild.

To help us locate Princess,

we're deploying 30 state-of-the-art video camera traps.

Very little footage has ever been filmed of wild Siberian tigers.

These cameras could help us capture

their unseen lives for the first time.

So, these pictures provide

a means of putting a face to these animals, and understanding them

more as personalities than as mysterious animals.

It just provides an opportunity to better understand

these individuals as characters and not as dangerous, mysterious beasts.

If we're lucky, our cameras will find Princess.

I'll stay in Ussuriysk helping Victor,

while Dale and wildlife cameraman Max are heading north.

For over 20 years, Dale has lived in Siberia,

working for the Wildlife Conservation Society.

His main research site is 500 miles away, in the Sikhote-Alin Reserve.

It's a 12-hour road trip.

Dale has brought Max along to try to film another important female tiger.

Sikhote-Alin lies on the coast of the Sea of Japan,

near the small town of Terney.

DOG BARKS

People here live with tigers on their doorstep.

Dale wants Max to track down

a particular female tiger he's concerned about.

So this is Varvarra here, is it? When did you take this shot?

In July. End of July.

And when did you first collar her, then, was that...?

So we collared her a year ago, in September.

And so she's been on the air for about 14 months.

She's a young female.

When we captured her, she hadn't given birth.

But for the last couple of months, she's been concentrated in one area

and we think that she has cubs now.

She's quite small there. So she's, you're saying, how old?

She's probably three,

no more than four years old.

If she has cubs now,

it's definitely her first cubs.

-This is August.

-This is August.

Wow, look at that. Wow! It's like a jungle in the summer, isn't it?

It's such a different environment now.

Yeah, it looks so stark and bleak right now

-and it's like a jungle in the summer time.

-Unbelievable.

We know where she was a few days ago

and we need to get out there before another snowfall comes.

Tiger numbers in Sikhote-Alin

have been decimated by poachers and disease.

They're at their lowest for 35 years.

Varvarra is the reserve's last-known female.

Her recent movements suggest she might have cubs.

That's what they need to confirm.

Max is working with Dale's colleagues, Sveta and Kolya,

to track her.

To catch up with Varvarra, they'll need to travel light.

They don't carry guns for protection, only flares.

Well, I suppose if we come face to face with a tiger,

we've got to light ourselves up like a Christmas tree,

otherwise we could be in a bit of trouble!

Using the signal from Varvarra's collar, they've picked up her trail.

After walking for six hours, they're ten miles from the nearest road.

We've just had a crow go overhead,

which is normally a very good sign that you're close to a kill.

The guys are saying that Varvarra is about 300 to 500 metres away.

But this telemetry's not an exact science.

These are just bearings we try to plot onto a map.

So she could be very, very close indeed.

The trackers take another reading, and they're in for a shock.

Varvarra, now, they think, is literally 200 metres that way.

But it brings it home how quickly things can change here.

One minute, we were strolling along, and the next minute,

we're 200 metres, probably, from a tiger.

We've got these flares out and I'm assured that

it'll scare a tiger off, but I'm not quite convinced.

Something in the back of my mind just keeps saying

we're slightly crazy, getting within 200 metres of a cat

which could get here in a matter of seconds if it wanted to.

But apparently, these are going to keep anything at bay.

Surprising a Siberian tiger would be a bad move,

especially if she has cubs.

They soon discover why Varvarra is in the area.

Whoa! Look at that!

-Yes.

-So she's made this kill?

-Yes.

And how old do you think?

-Probably a week.

-A week old?

-Yeah.

Look at the size of it!

-So the tiger took that down?

-Yeah.

My God!

Camera traps at the kill site could record Varvarra

if she returns to eat and help to reveal whether she has cubs.

They also set cameras along trails and by known scent-marking trees.

If Varvarra has cubs, and Max can film her,

it could be a rare insight into Siberian tiger maternal behaviour.

After a few days, the camera traps deliver

our first glimpse of Varvarra.

Despite the fact that it makes no noise,

she's clearly aware of the camera.

She's nervous, and there's no sign of any cubs.

Down south, in Ussuriysk, Victor and I are still searching for Princess.

She hasn't been seen for three months.

In previous years,

Victor has often found signs of her

outside the safety of the protected area.

Today, we're going beyond the reserve's borders

to try to find her.

Whoa!

So normally, we use Victor's trucks to go into the reserve,

but today, we're going further afield

and so we need something a little bit bigger.

Can I even get up here? Oof!

You've got to come and see this!

Dobriy den'. Meenya savoot Liz.

-Alexis.

-Alexis. Dobriy den'.

-Roma.

-Roma. Nice to meet you.

Dobriy den'.

This place is epic!

There's even a movie on this, it's brilliant!

Yeah, I'm moving in.

These six-wheel-drive trucks transport workers

into the most inaccessible parts of the forest.

They're designed to withstand the most extreme conditions,

the kind of vehicle you'd only find in Siberia!

Victor is searching for Princess' signal.

Each tiger collar has a unique frequency.

But these signals rarely reach more than one mile.

And we don't even know if she's alive.

Just to get one glimpse, you know, just a flash of orange,

that would be quite something.

Let's see other place, other area,

but it's difficult now to find her.

A short drive from the reserve,

we find a scar cutting through the forest.

The trees have been cleared to make way for a gas pipeline.

A service road runs alongside it.

Why is this access road such a problem?

It is the main problem for the wildlife

because it make very accessible

for the poacher, who can come here to hunt the different animal.

We're talking about an access road

that is an easy way for poachers to get into

what was before an inaccessible forest.

How long does this road go on for?

About 760 kilometres.

760 kilometres long. And that's only part of the entire gas line.

Victor, how does this make you feel?

Can I ask you, what do you feel

when you have seen a piece of art destroyed?

Now, obviously, it's important to bring gas to people.

-I know you're not saying that it shouldn't be done.

-Of course.

But what's the solution, Victor,

when you have to bring the gas down to Vladivostok from Siberia?

Do you think there's a better way of doing this?

Of course, we can use existing infrastructure,

outside of the forest.

So what do you, as conservationists, do to try and protect the forest

when you've got something like this

carving its way though 800 kilometres of tiger habitat?

The solution is to increase the number of rangers,

to re-cultivate all road and to close such a road.

The damage here is bad,

but the service road is the real threat to the tigers.

It's only two-and-a-half miles from the border of the Ussuriysk Reserve,

giving hunters easy access to the heart of the forest.

If Princess is spending time here, outside the reserve, she's at risk.

Back up north, in the Sikhote-Alin Reserve, Max and the trackers

are still on the trail of Varvarra, in the hope that she has cubs.

Very little is known about how Siberian tigers raise their young.

But we do know that they can give birth any time of the year,

even in the dead of winter.

Then they find an important clue.

(Wow, look at that. What's happened here, Sveta?)

(It looks like cubs stayed here and played for some time.)

(Well, at last, we exactly know that Varvarra has cubs.)

(And we, at last, see cubs' tracks, it's very good news.)

(Well, it's difficult to say, but it looks like more than one cub.)

(Maybe two.)

(That's good news!)

(Maybe three, maybe four! But I think two or three maybe.)

(We'll see.)

(Varvarra lay here with cubs, because there's no snow over here.)

(So we can imagine how it was.)

(Nice!)

Here is one,

two,

and three.

We know that not two, three or four.

-Three or four.

-Yeah.

That's incredible, though. Either way, it's good news.

Yes, it's very good news!

The cubs played here and tried to go inside this tree.

Sveta keeps saying how they have been playing on this tree,

playing on that tree.

I just wish I was here to see them bounding around in the snow.

You can see on this tree...

they've run up there,

probably jumped off there.

Sveta's also found the remains of a deer.

So, we finally found the kill.

So it looks like she's feeding her cubs well.

I'm sure, yes, she's a good mum.

Her cubs are very fat.

-Are they?

-I think!

Dale's not going to believe it!

Max and the team

have proof that Varvarra has had her very first litter.

It's fantastic news for the Sikhote-Alin Reserve.

Max is now hoping that his camera traps

have captured Varvarra and her cubs.

So I want to show you some of the results,

the fruits of your labour, as you say.

So, this was one of the first animals we saw,

which is a full-frame sika dear.

We got some night shots, too.

I can show you a few critters walking though.

-Oh, wow! A lynx, just creeping in there.

-A Lynx showed up.

This is interesting, too,

because I think it's the same animal,

and look at this, he scent-marks right on that.

And then...

just to keep that momentum going, we got another animal walk though.

Oh, amazing! Is that Varvarra?

No, it's not, it's a male,

it's a male. But watch, watch!

He walks to the edge of frame

and then he does a scrape.

He's doing a scrape right now.

Wow! Look at that.

So we got him, which is pretty neat,

and we didn't really expect it.

The cameras have captured other animals scavenging Varvarra's kill.

Sable, a type of weasel, eat whatever they find.

Eagles...

..and even wild boar benefit from tiger kills in winter.

And then Varvarra makes her entrance.

Ah, look at that. Daytime, as well!

Yeah, she looks great.

But look how cautious she is. She's smelling where you guys were.

She still looks quite young. I mean, she is a first-time mum.

She is... She does look young, doesn't she?

-But she's in good shape.

-Great shape.

And the other camera we had here, don't tell me that didn't fire!

Hang on.

To see the markings like that,

-it's incredible, isn't it?

-Yeah, it's nice.

But where are the cubs? I mean, she's...

We didn't actually get to the site where the cubs were stashed

and she didn't bring them down through here, unfortunately,

so we missed that opportunity.

Collectively, with the radio collar, the camera traps

and these videos, we've gotten a much better understanding

of the way mothers interact and take care of their cubs.

Up until this point, we had always thought that females

would leave their cubs at a kill site and then go off hunting,

then go back to the kill site,

get the cubs and bring them to the new kill.

But we've seen in this video,

they don't leave their cubs

at the kills, and that makes sense,

because that's a dangerous spot.

We've seen, through these camera traps,

all these other carnivores coming through.

Lynx and sable and even wild boar coming in,

so that's a dangerous place to leave your cubs.

So she takes them off some place, and we didn't really realise that

until we started getting some of this footage.

The Siberian tiger

is one of the world's most endangered animals.

Footage like this is invaluable.

Only by studying this remarkable animal's natural behaviour

can scientists learn how to protect it.

And while we haven't seen the cubs,

it looks like Varvarra has got over her camera shyness.

Down south in Ussuriysk,

there's still no sign of Princess.

In the past, she has used an area

outside of the reserve

and that makes her vulnerable.

80% of all Siberian tiger deaths are caused by man.

But there are a few Russians

who dedicate their lives to protecting them.

One of those is Roma Kozhishev, an ex-boxer

and now an anti-poaching inspector.

Roma and just one other colleague

monitor 40,000 square miles of forest.

Dale and I are joining Roma on patrol,

to see first-hand the dangers tigers face from humans.

OK. Stop! Stop!

DOGS BARK

So he's telling him to contain his dogs.

There's a lot of dogs here, isn't there?

There are a heck of a lot of dogs!

Is that... That's an illegal rifle.

These raids are routine for Roma,

but they can quickly become dangerous.

Roma's been attacked many times by poachers while on patrol.

As well as the gun, he's found bullets for shooting big game.

THEY SPEAK IN RUSSIAN

So we've actually deployed one of our crew

to just follow that lot with Roma,

so he can cite them and write up the paperwork, et cetera.

But he's also asked us to stay here,

in case any of the rest of the guys try and hide anything.

DOGS BARK

For people living in poverty, the forest provides meat,

and that means that humans here are in direct competition with tigers.

'These guys are out here working every day, all day, right?

'They're driving back and forth.'

They're going to have opportunities.

And for them, it's fresh meat,

and free, and free.

You can understand it from their point of view, as well.

THEY SPEAK RUSSIAN

OK, so Roma is writing up the protocol citation.

It's a long process, basically, but the gun is illegal.

He isn't registered with the local hunting organisation,

which he should be, and he doesn't have a hunting licence.

So they will confiscate the gun and turn it over to the police.

HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN

So he basically splits people into two groups.

There's professional poachers, who go out and kill animals

and just sell the meat, and he doesn't have any tolerance

for those people, basically. But there's lots of people

who are illegally hunting

to feed their families.

He says it's really hard, you know,

to not sympathise with them.

What's the hardest part of Roma's job?

THEY SPEAK RUSSIAN

It's really hard to be living in one place for a long time,

and the kind of people that are poachers

can sometimes have people that you had good relationships with

and then found out that they are also poachers,

so it's psychologically really difficult to deal with all that,

to live in a small community and maintain relationships with people.

It's unbelievable. I can't believe how difficult it must be for him

and how much he must care to keep going,

because it alienates him from his home and people around him.

This man, I have so much respect for what he does

-and continues to do, it's wonderful.

-It's not an easy life...

-It really isn't.

-..but he's committed to it.

Roma's commitment to saving tigers is inspirational.

But he's just one man, with a vast area to police.

Tigers are prized for their fur, bones and body parts,

used in traditional Chinese medicine.

A single tiger can sell for 50,000 dollars.

Ussuriysk Reserve is only 50 miles from the Chinese border.

This footage was filmed by police near Ussuriysk,

while we were working in the reserve.

In a single raid last year, they seized the remains of eight tigers.

That's two percent of the wild Siberian tiger population

eradicated in one hit.

The tigers here face such danger,

I'm beginning to doubt we'll ever find Princess.

There are so many things to think about to save the tiger.

Hunting, different organisations arguing, planning, management.

Do you ever want to just...

"It's too complicated, I give up"?

No, no, no, no, no. Liz...

Many times, I have thinking about this

but, for me, it is not my way.

I don't know about China,

about India, about everybody.

In Russia, I am absolutely convinced

that we can save the tiger.

We can save the tiger for...forever.

-You're sure?

-I'm absolutely convinced!

-How do you change that, Victor?

-Step by step.

-You have patience for that?

-It is impossible to be patient.

'Victor has...'

such fire in his belly about this place.

There's not a moment that goes by

that he's not thinking about the tiger,

listening for it, looking for its signs.

I mean, his passion borders on an obsession, really.

And he's become a massive part of my journey here,

not only because he's taught me

so much about Siberian tiger conservation,

but also because he's taught me what it means

to be brave and determined and resilient against such odds.

And, you know, he doesn't get anything out of it,

other than the satisfaction of knowing

that he is working as hard as he can

because he believes that the tiger needs to be saved.

And I do think that as long as there are people like Victor out here,

then, yeah, there is hope. There has to be hope.

One hope is that Siberian tiger cubs, orphaned by poaching,

could be returned to the wild.

Our three rescued cubs have been reunited

at this rehabilitation centre near Ussuriysk,

run by the Severtsov Institute.

Today, they're being released into an outdoor enclosure,

where they can learn to become independent.

Max has been following the cubs from the beginning.

We've got these special remote cameras

and we're rigging up the enclosure for the cubs.

From now on, they can't have any human interaction at all

if they're going to be released as wild tigers.

So we've got to set up these cameras, drop way back, and then,

hopefully, we'll get a glimpse of them coming out for the first time.

The team need to see how the cubs are recovering from their ordeal.

The last time Max saw them, one of the cubs was in critical condition.

The cameras will allow the scientists

to observe the cubs from a cabin 300 feet away.

As night falls, the cubs still haven't emerged from the hut.

Max settles in to keep watch.

(I haven't really seen any activity yet.)

(We all thought the cubs would come out all three of them together.)

(But it's nearly midnight now and we've got the infrared lights up,)

(but we haven't seen a single sign of any cubs.)

(It might take a few days,)

(or at least a couple of nights before they even come out.)

But to his surprise, there's movement in the enclosure.

(Look at him. Amazing!)

It's the third cub. The one who almost died.

(Bloody hell, they've grown!)

(He's looking so healthy.)

(Wow!)

(Look at that!)

(They've been inside that hut for so long.)

(It's a real safe haven for them, so it's a massive leap for them,)

(but it's just the start of the journey,)

(a long, long journey of becoming a tiger again.)

(I mean, I really just want to come back and see them in the day.)

By the next morning,

all three cubs are out.

Over the next 12 months,

this space will be enlarged

and live prey will be released,

so that the cubs can learn to hunt.

Incredibly, these three cubs represent

one percent of the entire wild population.

If their luck holds, within a year,

they could be back in the forest.

The next generation of Siberian tigers.

We're nearing the end of our time in Siberia.

With two days left, Victor and I

still haven't found any sign of Princess.

Today, we're searching

the northern border of the reserve, but we're having some trouble.

Every day, it's the same thing!

Just outside of the reserve is a privately-owned hunting club.

There are signs of tigers here.

Could one of them be Princess?

Victor can cover more ground alone...

..and heads out to search for her.

The staff here put out food

to increase the number of deer and boar for hunting...

..and that means more prey for tigers.

But I'm curious to know about

the hunters' attitudes to this predator,

so I speak to the manager.

HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN

He says, "You can see by the tracks here

"that we get along OK with tigers."

You know, he takes his share, especially of wild boar,

but, "We have no problems."

HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN

"On this hunting lease, there are about four tigers in this area."

He said, "If there was an elimination of the tigers here,

"wolves would come in, and that's more of a problem than tigers."

So here, at least, the hunters and tigers

seem to benefit from each other.

Wolves are pack animals,

capable of taking large numbers of prey.

But tigers don't tolerate wolves in their territory.

This hunting ground may not be the norm in the Russian Far East,

but tigers here are protected from illegal poachers

and have plenty of food.

Victor continues the search for Princess.

The last hope for a breeding population

in the neighbouring Ussuriysk Reserve.

The next morning, he has something for me to hear.

INTERFERENCE ON RADIO

So who's that? What's that sound?

Is that a collar?

I have record of Princess.

-Princess?

-Yes.

-In the hunting lease yesterday?

-Yesterday.

-Oh, la-la la-la!

Victor has found Princess.

She's alive!

I was very happy when I record...

Victor, that's fantastic!

But I do a lot of track, we go in this mountain.

-So you went up the mountain?

-Yes. And I switched on...

Oh!

..and I heard Princess.

Victor, how important is it to have proof of Princess,

for the reserve, for the future of tigers here?

It is good for population. It is very important.

Very important, and now that we have proof, you know...

she's alive, she's here.

The female is the future. The cubs is the future.

Like our children, they are the future for the human population.

Princess is the key to the future of this vital reserve.

The fact that she's alive is fantastic news

for the wider Siberian tiger population.

Hopefully, it won't be too long before she breeds

with one of the males in Ussuriysk and has cubs herself.

At the start of our mission, we deployed 30 camera traps...

..and we've already had some fantastic results.

Dale is keen to show us the latest images.

-OK, everybody ready?

-OK.

OK, so I want to show you footage we got of a female up in Terney.

-Look at that!

-Oh, she's absolutely magnificent!

This young female doesn't have a collar.

It's the first time anyone has seen her.

Yeah, this is pretty amazing.

Oh! Having a good old sniff!

-Yeah, that's incredible, huh?

-Aw!

Whiskers right up to the camera.

Just no matter how often you see a tiger,

it just takes your breath away, doesn't it?

This footage is just mind-blowing.

I've not seen any wild Siberian tiger footage like this

anywhere in the world.

This grimace is the Flehmen response.

It allows her to make sense of the scent left by other tigers.

To see this young female coming into this area, curious,

active, with a character,

I mean, she really inspires hope

for the future of tigers across the region.

The cameras have revealed

there is another breeding female in Dale's reserve.

CHEERING AND LAUGHTER

-Amazing.

-Excellent.

I hope we can save for the future.

Honestly, how can you argue that

that and its habitat have to be saved?

Looking at this, it kind of eliminates the need

to ask that question.

The video itself states the obvious,

that this animal deserves a place to live.

It's the end of our time here in Russia.

Working with these scientists, we've seen first-hand

the challenges threatening the survival of the Siberian tiger.

And our cameras have helped to unlock

the secrets of this elusive big cat.

The vital work to save the Siberian tiger continues.

Their future hangs in the balance.

But I've been overwhelmed by the passion

and dedication of the people I've met here...

..and perhaps, through their efforts,

there will still be tigers

roaming these magical forests

for generations to come.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd