11/25/2025
Spectacular shot! Look at how ORANGE that magnificent creature is against the snow. And the turn of her head, as if she knows her beauty is being captured. Goddess of the Taiga indeed.
At the time this photograph was taken, it was one of only a very few taken in the wild of a Siberian tiger without the use of a camera trap. 🐅
It's also almost certainly one of the best – the reward for Toshiji Fukuda who spent months in a cramped hide.
Toshiji knew how hugely difficult it is to see a Siberian tiger in its woodland habitat. So, when he heard that tiger tracks had been found on the shore of the Sea of Japan in Russia's Lazovsky Nature Reserve, he knew this was his chance.
The enticement for the tiger was sika deer, driven by hunger to feed on seaweed on the shore.
Toshiji's colleague dug a hole into the steep slope overlooking the beach and in it built a tiny hut. There they lived, in cold, cramped boredom, for the next 74 days.
Occasionally, at night, Toshiji heard growling, and was glad of an electric fence around the hut. But he knew that the chances of seeing a tiger in daylight were slim.
At the time, of the 300 or so Siberian tigers left in the wild (under constant pressure from poaching and forest destruction) no more than 12 inhabited the reserve.
On day 50, Toshiji was woken by crows screeching in alarm. The clouds had cleared; it was a beautiful, sunny morning. And there, just 150 metres away, was a tiger.
“The scene was divine - it was as if the goddess of the Taiga had appeared to me,” he said. That was the only time he saw the female, but she allowed him to achieve his lifelong dream, to photograph a wild Siberian tiger.
📸 ‘Tiger Untrapped’ won ’s previous category, the Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Species.
Uncover more awe-inspiring stories of perseverance and commitment to wildlife photography in our new exhibition, open now at the Natural History Museum in London.
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