After camping out in one of the world’s most hostile places for over six weeks, presenter Liz Bonnin and the canny conversationalists finally spotted the beautiful big cats.
The filming first was part of a BBC2 wildlife documentary, Operation Snow Tiger, to be shown tonight.
Despite their light orange coats and black stripes the animals are incredibly difficult to spot, even against a white, snowy backdrop.
But they are rarely seen in the wild because, tragically, fewer than 350 Siberian tigers exist today after being targeted by poachers who can flog them on the black market for £30,000.
Once killed, a Siberian tiger’s bones are sold for Chinese medicines. Its skin will be callously hung in homes as a symbol of status.
Having once roamed vast tracks of northern Asia, the tigers are now confined to a remote part of far-eastern Russia, north of Vladivostok.
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