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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Deer-man. “It was still a time when a Udege, looking at a deer, he thought he saw a deer-man (...) When he saw a tiger, he thought he saw a tiger-man. In those times all sort of things happened to people. Such things happened that nowadays do not”. Udege tale
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Heilongjiang: the black dragon. Amur River,s basin forms the border between Russian Far East and North Eastern China (Inner Manchuria).
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Vodka.Krasni Yar. 9 a.m.Alcoholism rates among the udege community are among the hightest in all Russia and often lead into violence episodes
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Kostya the hunter. "When I see a deer, an elk or a bear I have no doubts. There is only one answer for a hunter: to kill. But when I see a tiger my mind hesitates.. "
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Book of poems. Sikhoté- Alin Mountains.“There is only one path to eternal peaceBut, will you love me? Although in the casket I do not posses condemna- tion my corpse you shall lonvingly find beyond the coffin... yes? ... you will deceive me?”
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
A guardian dog devours a deer skull near in the taiga
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Lev Jomenko, hunter and herbalist from Lesopil`noye. While on a hunting trip he spotted the tracks of a wounded tiger and decided to follow them. He didn ́t have far to go. Apparently, the tiger swatted Jomenko in the face with its paw, leaving hum unconscious in the ground. Then the tiger picked hum up in his jaws and shook him like a rag doll, so violently that it broke his wrist and both of his legs. Then the tiger walked away from there. That day the temperature was minus forty-five. When the loggers found him his body was rigid as an ice statue. Vernacular image.
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Detail of a tiger´s paw. Adult, about 3 year´s old heading west throught the Bikin River. Probably following a female deer.
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Galina moans for her lost son in the taiga 4 years ago. "He went one day and never came back to me..."
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Siberian roe-deer. Animals like deers or wild hogs can weigh up to 400 kilos, so the hunter must dismember the prey and take it to his hunting cabin in several trips. In the meantime the hunter must hide his prey from other predators such us bears and, specially, tigers.
Some udege hunters still hold a practice, in between of folklore and practical need, of giving away some parts of their prey, such us the head or visceras to the tiger to keep it away and avoid unwanted encounters.
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Edvard Niekrasov was attacked by a tigress a decade ago. He shot and killed a tiger during a hunting trip but he did not realize there was a tigress as well. The tigress took a swipe on his face, deforming his face. "We were following the tracks of a deer when we realize a tiger was almost in front of us. I didn´t think twice and shoot and killed the animal. I was excited and ran towards the animal to check on it without realizing there was a female tiger hidden by its side. Then she leaped on me… I remember her eyes out of the socket staring at me when she took a swipe at my face. Luckily my nephew was able to chase the tigress away before she finished me. I should never did what I did and I paid a high price for it..."
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Andrei, the hunter.
“Our culture and our beliefs are intimately attached to the taiga. We believe in the spirits that live in the forest, in the fire, they help us during the hunt.”
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Claw from a rear paw of a siberian tiger
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Fresh track of an adult tiger, approximately 3 years old, on Bikin river.
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Ilegal poacher hunting in the taiga.
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
“A man came in the morning. He told (my husband) had been attacked by atiger. I yelled at him: Why did you not brought him here? I thought he was alive... He asked quietly there was nothing left... The tiger took hum into the taiga and ate him. They only found one of his legs. Days after we put it into a coffin and buried him properly. It was december the 3rd of 1997... he has been gone for so long”. Tamara Borisova, Vladimir Markov´s widow.
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Last picture of Vladimir Markov alive.
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Roe-deer man under the Orion (the Hunter) constellation
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Yuri Trush, leader of the Conflict Tiger Patrol, responsible to relocate or hunt tigers out of control poses with the male responsible of Markov´s death alongside with his crew.
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Personal notebook
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© 2018 Alvaro Laiz
Misha the hunter. "For those who know how to read, everything is written in the White Book"
