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Togiak Refuge today released a photo of a highly unusual visitor to SW Alaska. This Siberian tiger was caught on a game camera that had been set up in an effort to document suspected illegal hunting activity on a tributary of the Togiak River.
Siberian tigers are native to eastern Russia, just across the Pacific from Alaska. They are a cold climate apex predator that has suffered from habitat lost (deforestation) across portions of their home range. While the presence of one here in western Alaska might be shocking to some, they are excellent swimmers and adept on the pack ice that would have been crossed to get here.
Game cameras are routinely used by biologists on the refuge. This particular camera had been placed on a river by law enforcement officers after several suspicious kill sites were discovered from the air. Initially poaching was suspected and the camera was set up at a likely spot on the river in an effort to document illegal activity.
There have been other unusual visitors in the recent years, including musk oxen and a wood bison, though this one certainly moves to the front of the line. Additional cameras have been deployed and area hunters and anglers are urged to use caution when traveling on rivers that drain into the Togiak River.
Siberian tigers are native to eastern Russia, just across the Pacific from Alaska. They are a cold climate apex predator that has suffered from habitat lost (deforestation) across portions of their home range. While the presence of one here in western Alaska might be shocking to some, they are excellent swimmers and adept on the pack ice that would have been crossed to get here.
Game cameras are routinely used by biologists on the refuge. This particular camera had been placed on a river by law enforcement officers after several suspicious kill sites were discovered from the air. Initially poaching was suspected and the camera was set up at a likely spot on the river in an effort to document illegal activity.
There have been other unusual visitors in the recent years, including musk oxen and a wood bison, though this one certainly moves to the front of the line. Additional cameras have been deployed and area hunters and anglers are urged to use caution when traveling on rivers that drain into the Togiak River.
