Paw Prints in the Snow

by Sally Grindley

  The dog leapt to his feet and ran to each of the cones in turn. He stopped by the first cone Joe had placed, walked round it, sniffing continuously, then sat down right next to it.

  ‘Good dog, Ivan,’ Nadia cried, and sent him back to the cones.

  Ivan sniffed out the second scat in no time and sat down next to the cone, wagging his tail vigorously.

  ‘He’s so clever!’ said Aesha. ‘Two out of two!’

  ‘Two poos out of two.’ Joe giggled.

  ‘Will he get a reward for being so good?’ Aesha asked.

  ‘We reward the dogs with play sessions,’ Nadia replied. ‘They have so much fun.’

  Artem asked them to shuffle the cones around while Ivan was taken out of the room. When he returned Ivan was sent to find the correct scats again. Yet again, he was right both times.

  ‘Best dog,’ said Artem.

  One by one, the dogs were put through their paces, some more successfully than others. Joe darted about, shifting cones, replacing scats and leading the dogs back to their pens when their turn was over. Aesha helped Nadia to bring the dogs out and settle them down before their test. Artem painstakingly recorded the results and left Nadia to explain the purpose of their work.

  ‘If the dogs can identify different tigers from their scats it will help us to keep track of how many different tigers there are in the area. It’ll also alert us to the absence of a particular tiger if we suddenly can’t find any trace of it.’

  ‘But how can the dogs tell the difference?’ Joe asked.

  ‘We’re not really sure,’ said Nadia, ‘but it seems there may be unique features to the scat of individual tigers, just as individual people have different scents.’

  Joe was sorry when their time with the dogs came to an end and a jeep arrived to take Aesha and him back to the lodge. They thanked Artem and Nadia, who gave each of them a tiny bronze tiger to take away as a memento.

  ‘We’ve had a brilliant day,’ Aesha said to their mother as soon as she saw her.

  ‘We’ve spent the day playing with tiger poo!’ chuckled Joe.

  ‘Whoever would have thought it.’ Binti smiled.

  ‘And look what they gave us.’ Joe showed Binti his tiger. ‘I’m going to treasure this for ever,’ he said. ‘It’ll always remind me of those amazing sniffer dogs.’

  Chapter 8

  The following day, the Brook family packed their things ready to leave for the heart of the Lazovsky Nature Reserve. This was what Joe had been waiting for – the chance to see a tiger in the wild. It didn’t matter how many times he was told that it was extremely unlikely, he was convinced he would be lucky.

  ‘Mum says most of the people who work here have never seen one, so why do you think you’re going to?’ Aesha asked him.

  Joe shrugged. ‘Someone has to,’ he said rather lamely.

  A horn sounded outside and it was time to go. They piled into Iona’s jeep.

  ‘How were the dogs?’ she asked as they set off.

  ‘So clever!’ said Aesha.

  ‘It was fun,’ said Joe, ‘especially when Boris knocked all the cones over. He was very naughty.’

  ‘Ah, poor Boris. He is a little slow on the uptake and might not make it as a sniffer dog, but he’s my favourite,’ said Iona. ‘Today, you see more of our work – our real work – and tomorrow too. Tomorrow you’ll be able to come with us while we check some of our camera traps.’

  ‘Traps?’ Aesha was alarmed. ‘Why do you set traps?’

  ‘They’re not traps in the real sense of the word,’ her father explained. ‘The project workers have set up cameras in areas where tigers are known to roam. If a tiger walks into the camera’s range, its movement will activate the camera to start filming the tiger.’

  ‘We can identify individual tigers by their stripes,’ Iona continued. ‘It’s another way of keeping track of how many different tigers there are in the region.’

  ‘Wow! So will we be able to watch the films?’ Joe asked.

  ‘We might not find anything on them, but if we do then, yes, of course you will,’ Iona reassured him.

  ‘It won’t just be tigers that are filmed, will it?’ said Aesha. ‘There’ll be other animals as well.’

  ‘Anything that moves at the right height and proximity will trigger the camera,’ said Peter.

  ‘So we might see bears?’ Joe was thrilled at the thought.

  ‘We’re more likely to see the common species, like deer and wild boar,’ said Iona. ‘Though we did have some beautiful shots of a Himalayan black bear once.’

  Joe knew he would be excited if they found anything at all, though tigers or bears would be the best as far as he was concerned. ‘It would be so cool if we saw a tiger cub,’ he said to Aesha.

  ‘I’d love to see a tiger cub,’ Aesha said wistfully, ‘especially a really tiny one.’

  ‘They are rather cute,’ said Iona, ‘but there’s very little chance of that, sadly. Remember, only ten to twelve tigers have been regularly recorded in this nature reserve, and very young cubs stay in the warmth of their dens.’

  Joe stared out of the window. Only ten to twelve tigers hidden in all the dense forest and snow-covered mountains that surround us . . .

  ‘There are no fences to stop the tigers wandering out of the reserve, either,’ Iona added, ‘so at times the number may be even lower.’

  ‘But that means tigers from elsewhere can come in too,’ Aesha observed.

  ‘And that’s what can make it exciting.’ Iona nodded. ‘Especially when a young tiger we’ve never seen before appears.’

  ‘Just like the two of you appearing out of the blue,’ Peter joked. ‘It must have made Iona’s day.’

  ‘Oh, Dad!’ Aesha protested.

  They were approaching the entrance to the reserve. Joe gazed beyond, expecting that it would look different somehow, but it looked just the same as on the outside.

  ‘We’re very privileged, you know,’ said Peter. ‘Normally access to the reserve is restricted to scientists, fieldworkers and forest rangers.’

  ‘But we’re going to be acting as fieldworkers, aren’t we, Dad?’ said Joe. ‘And Mum’s a scientist.’

  ‘You’re very welcome anyway.’ Iona laughed. ‘A trip inside the reserve is the least we can offer, given that your mother is helping train some of our young vets.’

  ‘Why do they have to be trained to deal with tigers if they’ll never come across one?’ asked Aesha.

  ‘You can never say never,’ said Binti, which made Joe smile. ‘But it’s not just tigers – it’s wildlife in general. The vets need to be trained how to take samples from the animals tigers feed on. If those animals are carrying disease, it will spread to the tigers. Healthy prey, healthy tigers.’

  Joe was proud his mother knew so much that she could train other vets, even those who were living on the other side of the world. Now that they were finally inside the reserve, he stared out of the window hoping to be the first to spot an animal of any sort, or at least its tracks.

  He wasn’t quick enough. Iona’s trained eyes soon picked out a sika deer, screened by trees, eating the leaves from a low bush. She also pointed to a Siberian thrush and a yellow-throated meadow bunting, and soon after that she showed them the tracks of a wild boar.

  ‘Your eyesight must be amazing,’ Joe exclaimed.

  ‘I’m sure at your age yours is better.’ Iona smiled. ‘But I know where to look. Let’s stop soon and get out – we can’t take the jeep very far into the forest and you’ll see more on foot.’

  ‘Isn’t it dangerous?’ Aesha sounded anxious.

  ‘Less dangerous than crossing a road,’ Iona assured her.

  ‘But what if a tiger comes?’ Joe asked, though he was incredibly excited about walking where tigers walked.

  Peter laughed. ‘There’s probably more chance of seeing a bus.’

  Chapter 9

  Joe thought the hike was brilliant. They warmed up in no time, so much so that they wound up carrying their
coats even though there was a smattering of snow on the ground. Because of their presence, there was little sign of wildlife, but there were plenty of birds flitting from treetop to treetop and Peter was determined to photograph as many species as possible. Joe tried as well, but his camera wasn’t powerful enough to produce anything more than indecipherable shadows that could just as easily have been leaves as birds. Peter took to photographing trees too, much to Joe’s amusement.

  ‘I thought you were going to photograph anything that moved,’ he chortled. ‘Trees don’t move.’

  ‘They sway in the wind,’ his father countered, ‘and they’re home to all the birds I’ve been photographing. Anyway, I’m being very arty with my close-ups of the bark.’

  Joe looked at the latest shot on the LCD screen of his own camera and wished he could be as creative. Then he spotted something in the background that even Iona hadn’t seen.

  ‘Look. What’s that?’ he asked. ‘There’s a face behind that bush.’

  Peter and Iona stared hard at the camera screen.

  ‘Well, well!’ Iona exclaimed at last. ‘You’ve captured a roe deer and he’s posing beautifully for you!’

  ‘Fluke!’ scoffed Aesha.

  ‘Pure skill,’ said Joe.

  He was proud of himself, even if he hadn’t known the deer was there at the time. He smiled at the thought of looking at another photograph and discovering a tiger winking at him in the background.

  Iona knew the reserve like the back of her hand and took them to several spectacular viewpoints. She had brought a picnic lunch with her, which they stopped close by a waterfall to eat.

  ‘I can’t believe we’re eating a picnic in the snow in the middle of a forest in Russia!’ said Aesha.

  ‘Where Amur tigers live!’ added Joe enthusiastically.

  ‘Poor Joe,’ said Binti. ‘I wish we could magic up a tiger for you, but I think you’re going to have to wait till we go home and visit the zoo.’

  ‘I’ve seen tigers in the zoo, but it’s not the same as seeing them in the wild,’ Joe replied.

  ‘Zoos do very important work in helping to protect them in the wild,’ said Binti. ‘Without that work – not just in our country but overseas as well – tigers might have become extinct already.’

  ‘It seems cruel to keep them cooped up in a zoo just so that people can go and stare at them, though,’ said Aesha.

  ‘If you don’t engage people’s interest, you won’t have their support when it comes to raising funds to save an endangered species,’ Binti explained.

  ‘And zoos enable scientists to study animals at first-hand. Many of the animal species in reputable zoos are endangered. The role of the zoo then is to maintain a back-up population in case a species becomes extinct in the wild,’ Iona informed them. ‘Unfortunately, though, there are still too many zoos around the world that treat their animals very badly.’

  ‘The people who run those should be put behind bars and the animals set free,’ said Aesha indignantly.

  Joe shivered. The sun had gone in and he was beginning to feel cold. They packed up the picnic and continued their hike, circling back towards the jeep.

  From one high point, they were able to look out across the sea, and it was then that Iona announced they would be spending the night in a log cabin on the shore. Joe was entranced at the prospect. Wait till I tell my friends about this – this and the sniffer dogs, thought Joe.

  ‘We kept it as a surprise for you,’ said Peter. ‘Now you’ll be able to say that you slept in the realm of the Amur tiger.’

  ‘Won’t it be freezing cold?’ asked Aesha.

  ‘Not if you keep the furnace stoked up,’ said Iona. ‘I’m going to drive back to the village with your mother to introduce her to our young vets, and we’ll return in the morning. Tomorrow we’ll check one or two of the camera traps, you’ll stay here one more night, and then the next morning we’ll return to the village to run through some of the films.’

  ‘How do you decide where to put the cameras?’ asked Aesha.

  ‘From following their tracks we know the tigers’ favoured routes,’ said Iona. ‘Like all cats, they mark their territory with their scent, usually on trees. We tie the cameras to trees that have been marked.’

  ‘You mean trees that have wee on.’ Joe giggled.

  ‘Oh, Joe!’ admonished Aesha. ‘Trust you.’

  ‘It’s not wee, Joe,’ Iona corrected him. ‘It’s a spray from their rear end or a rub from a facial scent gland.’

  Joe pulled a face. Whatever it was, he didn’t think it sounded very nice, but he still hoped that the cameras might show him a glimpse of a tiger.

  Chapter 10

  Joe was thrilled about staying in a log cabin on the beach.

  ‘We’ll be like Robinson Crusoe, won’t we, Dad?’ he said.

  He was sure that this was where their holiday would turn into a real adventure, and had visions of fishing and collecting nuts and berries from the forest. He imagined a tumbledown shack and having to cook in front of it on an open fire.

  The log cabin turned out to be simple but solidly built – and beautifully warm. A huge log-filled furnace provided heating and hot water. There was a very small kitchen with a wood-burning stove, a sitting area with several armchairs that had seen better days, and two bedrooms, one with bunk beds. Aesha groaned when she saw the bunk beds, complaining that she was far too old for that sort of thing. Joe quickly bagged the top one while she was still grumbling.

  Peter decided it should be their job to keep the furnace stoked up and he would sort out the food. Joe chose to do the morning shift, since he liked to get up early, whereas his sister loathed leaving her bed.

  ‘Just don’t wake me up when you’re clambering around at the crack of dawn,’ she said, before agreeing to fetch the logs in the evening, though she argued that it shouldn’t be a girl’s job anyway.

  ‘It’ll be good for your fitness,’ Peter said. ‘And you can go for a swim beforehand if you like.’

  Aesha groaned. ‘You’re so not funny, Dad.’

  They all mucked in when they first arrived. Joe and his father fetched logs from a stack that had been neatly piled up by the side of the cabin, while Iona showed Aesha how to lay them in the furnace so that they caught fire quickly. Binti unloaded the provisions Iona had brought with her.

  ‘I wish I was staying too,’ Binti said. ‘This looks really cosy.’

  ‘Ah, the trials of being a highly sought-after wildlife vet,’ sighed Peter dramatically. ‘You miss out on so much.’

  As soon as they were all set up, Binti and Iona departed for the park headquarters.

  ‘And now the wicked father has been left to terrorise his poor children!’ Peter adopted a witch’s cackle.

  ‘What are we supposed to do all evening?’ Aesha pouted.

  ‘You’re going to sweep and clean and wash and cook and pander to your wicked father’s every need. In between we’ll eat a delicious meal and watch the sun go down.’

  ‘It’s nearly gone now, Dad,’ said Joe, peering out through the window.

  ‘We’d better go out and catch it quickly then,’ said Peter. ‘Wrap up warm.’ He grabbed his coat and camera and headed for the door. Joe followed suit, with Aesha a little way behind.

  The beach was made up of tiny pebbles. The sea was calm and reflected the red rays from the fading sun. All that could be heard were the gentle lapping of waves and a few strains of birdsong from the forest behind.

  ‘Ah, peace!’ Peter whispered, raising his camera to film the dusky sky and the reddening sea.

  Joe faced in the opposite direction to take a shot of the moon hovering over the tops of the trees. As he lowered his camera, Aesha suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

  ‘Shhh!’ she said. ‘Don’t move. Look, Dad – over there!’

  She was pointing towards a group of rocks a little distance away near the water’s edge. A small fat animal with short legs and a round face was dipping its snout into a rock pool.
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  ‘What is it?’ asked Joe. ‘It looks like a sort of dog.’

  Peter peered through the zoom lens of his camera. ‘I know exactly what that is,’ he said. ‘It’s a raccoon dog. Funny wee thing – it looks as if it’s been put together out of the scraps left over from other creatures.’

  ‘Is it dangerous?’ asked Aesha.

  ‘Only if you’re a rodent or a fish,’ her father replied. He took several photographs of the raccoon dog, before something frightened it and it scuttled away.

  Joe was happy that they’d ended the day seeing an animal he hadn’t even heard of before. It had been a great day, he decided, and Peter brought it to a close by dishing up a tasty dinner, which they ate by candlelight when the electricity cut out.

  Chapter 11

  ‘Dad! Come quickly, Dad!’ Joe rushed back into the cabin. ‘Come and look!’

  It was early the next morning. Joe had gone to fetch logs for the furnace, which was burning low. It had snowed during the night and a light covering clung to the beach.

  ‘What is it, Joe?’ Peter appeared from his bedroom, yawning and shivering. ‘Close that door – you’re letting all the heat out.’

  ‘Come and see,’ Joe insisted.

  ‘It had better be good,’ Peter warned. ‘I was having a wonderful dream about bumping into a bear and being invited back to his den for bangers and mash.’

  ‘It is good. Hurry!’

  As Peter put on his shoes, Aesha came out of the bedroom. She was bleary-eyed and decidedly grumpy.

  ‘It’s still dark,’ she said. ‘What’s all the fuss about?’

  ‘There’s been a tiger!’ said Joe. ‘Come and look at the tracks.’

  Peter followed him out of the cabin. A trail of prints ran from left to right, a sign that the animal that made them had stopped close to the cabin, perhaps to scratch itself, or to sit and rest. Peter bent down to study the prints, measuring one against the palm of his hand.

  ‘Well!’ he exclaimed. ‘I’d say these were made by quite a large pussy cat.’

  ‘Come inside and shut the door then!’ cried Aesha. ‘He might be waiting, ready to pounce!’